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Recording and Resources: Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominately White Congregations

25 March 2024 at 18:05

On March 20, we joined Dorothy Swain of UUs of Grants Pass and Gabi Johnson with the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, both from Grants Pass, Oregon, for our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominantly White Congregations. Check out the recording and resources shared below.

Dorothy and Gabi's community organizing on Grants Pass Remembrance: from Sundown to Sunrise exemplified interfaith partnership and climate justice actions deeply rooted in the context of oppression in their community. They shared tons of great resources all linked below.

We hope to see you for April's Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Nourishing Impactful Teams with Rev. Cathy Rion Starr on April 17. RSVP today!

Resources from the meeting:

Recording and Resources: Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominately White Congregations

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle for Congregations

21 March 2024 at 08:01

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! We joined other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities.

In this 2024 webinar, Peg MacMorris with Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, CO, shared the way her congregation is approaching installing solar with IRA funds and Sabina Shelby with the Unitarian Church of West Hartford, CT, talked us through the Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship document the IRA PLC group created to help congregations access IRA funds.

Watch the recording below or on Vimeo.

Following the presentation, Michael Cohen with Solar United Neighbors and First Unitarian Church of Orlando, FL, and Russell Outcalt from UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, chimed in with Peg and Sabina to answer questions from the audience.

Resources from the meeting:

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle for Congregations

An Invitation to Faith-Filled Transformation through Climate Action

2 March 2024 at 17:11

Mark your calendars for the March 20 Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation with Dorothy Swain of the UUs of Grants Pass, OR. Justice is one of our four Essentials for Climate Action, and it’s often the one our congregations struggle with the most . . . or, as I like to say, the one with the most opportunity! I hope to see you for some shared learning and mutual supports at this or any of our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings.

Wow, was our February meeting inspirational or what?! Huge thanks to Russ Outcalt and the UU Fellowship of Raleigh for sharing the ways they’re Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030. I love hearing how our congregations are engaging with the Green Sanctuary 2030 process, and the UUs in Raleigh are doing stellar work! Check out the recording below, and while you’re at it get your congregation involved with UUSJ’s Environmental Justice for All Actions, also linked below!

Big thanks to our UU congregational leaders who shared their knowledge at our Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle this month! Peg MacMorris with Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, CO, shared the way her congregation is approaching installing solar with IRA funds and Sabina Shelby with the Unitarian Church of West Hartford, CT, talked us through the Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship document the IRA PLC group created to help congregations access IRA funds.

Following the presentation, Michael Cohen with Solar United Neighbors and First Unitarian Church of Orlando, FL, and Russ Outcalt from UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, chimed in with Peg and Sabina to answer questions from the audience. If you missed the presentations or want to review alllllll of the information shared (it was a lot!), look for the link to the recording below.

Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship is a wealth of information and resources for congregations looking to access federal funding for clean energy. In addition to details about federal funds, there’s a section on UU specific funding opportunities you can use to leverage IRA funds. Towards the end of the document, there are links to all of the webinars we’ve held related to the historical investments in clean energy available in the IRA.

Check —> It —-> Out! —> Here!

We hope to see you at the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Orientation on Wednesday, March 6 at 7ET.

New Resources Available

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle for Congregations

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! Thanks to everyone who came together to learn and share information at the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Watch the recording, and get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations.

Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030!

On February 21, we learned from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. View the recording and resources.

Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation

Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community. Register to join us!

Image description: Graphic with text bubbles on a background of pine branches, decorated with an illustrated pine cone and a bird resembling a goldfinch. Below is the Green Sanctuary logo, a chalice lit with a leaf flame. "Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings. 3rd Wednesdays. 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET. Jan. 17: Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! Feb. 21: Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030, UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC. Mar. 20: Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation, UUs of Grants Pass, OR. Apr. 17: Nourishing Impactful Teams, Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist. May 15: Climate Justice Brainstorm!"

Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8ET - 7CT - 6MT - 5PT. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs.

Remind Congress We Still Need The Environmental Justice for All Act

We still want Congress to act on "the moral principle that all people have the right to pure air, clean water, and an environment that enriches life." We still agree "Federal policy can and should seek to achieve environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for all underserved communities," let's urge them to do so. Last year's passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a significant step toward greater investment in clean energy.

Unfortunately, some provisions of the IRA are expected to stimulate fossil fuel production and worsen pollution in areas already saturated by heavy industry. Now, in the new Congressional Session, the House is proposing legislation intended to loosen procedural protections around energy projects. This includes efforts to undermine cornerstone environmental protections like the National Environmental Policy Act, and measures that will increase the risk to public health.

Tell Congress: Support the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act!

Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era

Register your congregation for the UU Climate Revival today!

As climate change rocks our world, there is a spirit at work in the congregations and movements committed to justice.

As we make the connections between climate and justice, we are called to re-imagine what it means to do this urgent work in community. As we make the connections between climate and justice, we are called to re-imagine what it means to do this urgent work in community. How can our climate work be:

  • Less isolated, more connected;

  • Less anxious, more nourishing; and

  • Less limited; more visionary? 

Through worship, laughter, learning, reflection, lamentation, and joy, we can feed our spirits and move forward nourished and connected with love at the center of our climate actions. Together, we can move from a deadly era of extraction to a flourishing era of connection

Join us on September 28 and 29 for a national UU Climate Revival offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice, and the chance to weave together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments. The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.

Register your congregation today! The form also includes the opportunity to become a sponsor! 

Upcoming Orientations

If you’re interested in learning what is new with Green Sanctuary 2030 and our new, flexible process; or if you want other leaders in your congregation to understand how powerful this program is for wider community change, join one of our upcoming orientations! Held the first Wednesday of each month at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, this orientation presents our new, flexible, accessible process and the opportunity to speak with me about what your congregation has been doing. Register now!

An Invitation to Faith-Filled Transformation through Climate Action

Green Sanctuary Community Meeting: Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030!

22 February 2024 at 16:17

The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. On February 21, we learned from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. See the recording and resources below.

Resources from the meeting:


Questions? Email Environment@UUA.org.

Green Sanctuary Community Meeting: Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030!

There is Always Time for Love in Our Movements

16 February 2024 at 14:52

Over the next couple of weeks you may hear murmurs of a gathering for UUs to deepen our commitments to climate justice…in the coming months, we hope those murmurs will turn into a cacophony of excitement around the UU Climate Revival. Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era will connect our congregations through inspiring collective worship, creative learning, new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice, and the chance to weave together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments.  Two words for you: “Stay Tuned!” Or maybe three words are better: “Don’t miss this!” 

As we’ve been envisioning this powerful event, I am now (and forever!) reflecting on the question: how can we center love in the climate movement? For me, it’s all about relationships. I do not want to build the world that is right for me, I want to collaboratively cultivate a world where all communities thrive

This means shifting from a singular mindset, a narrow focus, a myopic vision into an expansive reimagining, an abundance of possibility, and - yes, friends - collective liberation for all. There is no quick and easy fix to the problems of our world. For me, there are unbounded possibilities when I recognize that I alone do not have the answer. Of course, I can’t single handedly solve the complex, interconnected crisis that is climate change, but goodness sometimes it’s easy to fall into that mindset. There’s no time! There’s no time! I am here to remind us all that there is always time for love in our movements

When it feels like everything in the world is on fire and my heart breaks with the enormity of it all while my task list has more than I can possibly accomplish  in a year of Sundays, it can be tempting to push forward as fast as possible. Still, if I do that, and you do that, and everyone pushes forward independently, well, you can see where that gets us. For me, this means embracing curiosity, humility, and grace.  Spending time with colleagues to learn about who they are, what their vision is, how they think we should move forward, so that when we do move forward, we move forward together. Does it take more time to build relationships? Does it slow down the work? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

I find grounding and renewal in Viktor Frankl’s quote, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Today, I invite you all to pause. Slow down. Reflect on how you can center love in your actions. I promise your next thought, your next response, your next move will be all the better for it. 

And as we all move forward refreshed and grounded in love, I hope to see you at any one of the many nourishing and inspiring events in the coming months. From Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with Green Sanctuary 2030 to the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle or even just taking a break to watch the recording of Reimagining with Energy Democracy, we have several opportunities to build community, learn, get inspired, and move forward together with love at the center of our climate actions. 

Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting

Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!

Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!

The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!

For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.

Available Now: Reimagining with Energy Democracy

On January 25, we offered a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and watch the recording here.

Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all.

The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes: 

Our focus on Reimagining started last May with our Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice webinar. We’re happy to share the graphic illustration and printable coloring page from that event as a gift to our community.

Save the Date - Spring for Change 2024

March 21 to May 2 (International Day of Biodiversity) is Spring for Change! Together with a variety of Unitarian Universalist partners working for climate justice, the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth is offering activities and educational events to provide congregations and individuals with spiritual grounding and resources to face our ecological crises with courage, compassion, and a commitment to justice. Click here to view the full schedule of offerings.

World Water Day: Water is Life - March 21, 2024

7:00 pm ET/ 6:00 pm CT/ 5:00 pm MT/ 4:00 pm PT

World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness that 2.2 billion people live without access to safe water. We are honored to welcome Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs and Rev. Karen Van Fossan into a conversation on this important and sacred day. They are defenders and protectors of water; two spiritual leaders in our UU movement who will help us build a heart-centered approach to a right relationship with Mother Earth and her waters.

Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served congregations in Indiana, Quebec, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida and California. He honors his Native American heritage (Texas Cherokee) which informs his spiritual understanding and practice, and his anti-racist and anti-oppressive commitment He has worked for peace, justice and equality since he was in the Unitarian Universalist youth movement, Liberal Religious Youth.

Rev. Karen is also a Unitarian Universalist minister and author of A Fire at the Center: Solidarity, Whiteness, and Becoming a Water Protector. She is an abolitionist, licensed professional counselor, and former defendant in the Line 3 pipeline resistance. She is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry specializing in abolition through Pacific School of Religion. Clyde is on her dissertation advisory committee. Karen lives in Fargo, North Dakota, on the traditional lands of Anishinaabe, Lakota/Dakota, and many Indigenous peoples.

Register today!

National Faith + Climate Forum

Join Us for 2024 The National Faith + Climate Forum! We are excited to invite you to join us for an inspiring and transformative event designed to strengthen local congregations through care for creation – The National Faith + Climate Forum on April 16th from 12:00 pm - 5:15 pm ET / 11:00 am - 4:15 pm CT / 10:00 am - 3:15 pm MT / 9:00 am - 2:15 pm PT! Join other faith leaders in our area to hear inspiring national speakers and participate in purposeful discussions, practical workshops, and energizing collaborative sessions. All clergy and lay leaders, younger and older congregants, are welcome to join, whether you have been caring for creation for some time, or just getting started. We all can be part of the solution in our congregations and our community. Learn more and register here.

There is Always Time for Love in Our Movements

Reimagining a World with Love at the Center

7 February 2024 at 19:24

The Side With Love Team is hosting our annual 30 Days of love, and the second week's theme was Reimagining :: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.

If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive. Read my full 30 Days of Love, Reimagining :: Climate Justice reflection here.

We’ve got loads of opportunities for you to learn, act, and reflect on climate justice in the coming weeks, including:

  • Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21

  • Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on February 28

In between these amazing events, watch the recording of our Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! We heard from almost 20 congregations actively engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030 process designed to transform our congregations through climate justice.

Get inspired, then get involved!  

Get inspired with the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!

During our January Community Meeting, we hosted the annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration. Almost twenty Active Green GS2030 congregations shared highlights of their current work. Green Sanctuary 2030 teams engage in intersectional actions that align with our Four Essentials of Climate Action: Justice, Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, and Mitigation. Learn from your fellow UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice! 

If you’re ready to join the community, sign up for an orientation and join us for our monthly community meetings. The GS2030 orientations are the first Wednesday of each month, and the community meetings are the third Wednesday, both events are at 7ET.

Available Now: Reimagining with Energy Democracy

On January 25, we offered a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and watch the recording here.

Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all. The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes: 

Our focus on Reimagining started last May with our Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice webinar. We’re happy to share the graphic illustration and printable coloring page from that event as a gift to our community (below).

Image description: Graphic illustration from the Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice webinar titled, "Side With Love. Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice," with a sunflower with a raised fist stem at the top. In the top left is a group of people holding hands, sharing a thought bubble with a heart, and resting atop a half-earth with the words, "Plantcestors, Spiritual Natural Grounding, and Beyond the Human World." In the bottom left is a Council of Grandmothers. In the center is a globe with cities powered by clean energy and oceans with abundant fish and red arrows. On the right side of the document is a large scene featuring mountains; a thriving city with clean energy, rivers supporting birds and fish, happy families, healthy agriculture, and safe roads; and cows, sheep, bees, and people relaxing in a field near the words, "Loving Each Other" and "Caring for Each Other." The illustration features a diversity of plants and people of different races, ages, genders, and abilities. There are bright colors and gentle lines, and all the beings represented are free, connected, and safe. Logos: UUA, Create Climate Justice, Green Sanctuary 2030, See in Colors.

Image description: Black and white version of the graphic illustration shared above, to be printed out and enjoyed as a coloring page.

Upcoming Green Sanctuary Orientations

If you’re interested in learning what is new with Green Sanctuary 2030 and our new, flexible process; or if you want other leaders in your congregation to understand how powerful this program is for wider community change, join one of our upcoming orientations!

Held the first Wednesday of each month at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, this orientation presents our new, flexible, accessible process and the opportunity to speak with me about what your congregation has been doing. Register now!

Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary Community Meeting

Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!

Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!  

The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!

For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.

Reimagining a World with Love at the Center

Recording and Resources: Reimagining with Energy Democracy

7 February 2024 at 18:40

On January 25, Side With Love hosted a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and recording here.

Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all. The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes:

While this was the last in our Clean Energy as a Human Right Webinar Series, it marks the beginning of a dedicated focus on Energy Democracy. Here are some ways you can get involved right now. Watch What Does Energy Democracy Mean To You and sign up for the Energy Democracy Project’s REFOCUS Campaign, check out their zine, messaging guide, and list of collaborators where you can connect with local energy democracy campaigns like Cleveland Owns Solar in Ohio, POWER Interfaith in Pennsylvania, and People Power Solar Cooperative in California.

This webinar was also part of our 30 Days of Love, Reimagining :: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.

Our focus on Reimagining started last May with our Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice webinar. We’re happy to share the graphic illustration and printable coloring page from that event as a gift to our community.

If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. Consider what this radical reframing could look like. How would it feel? What does not exist in that future world? What is the shift that needs to happen in you to commit to this future? Bring this reimagining to your work in your relationships, congregations, and communities.

Big thanks to the sponsors of this event, including: the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar Cooperative, POWER Interfaith, The Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, Reamp Network, UUs for Social Justice, UU Service Committee, UU College of Social Justice, JUUstice Washington, UU Women’s Federation, UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina, and Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley.

We do this work together, with love at the center of our climate actions, and I am so grateful for the support and collaboration and unique work of each of these amazing organizations.

Recording and Resources: Reimagining with Energy Democracy

This Month: Learn, Act, and Reimagine for Climate Justice

23 January 2024 at 13:13

The Side with Love Team is hosting our annual 30 Days of love, and this week’s theme is Reimagining: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.  

If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive.  Read Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy’s full 30 Days of Love, Reimagining: Climate Justice reflection.

We’ve got loads of opportunities for you to learn, act, and reflect on climate justice in the coming weeks, including:

  • Reimagining with Energy Democracy this Thursday, January 25 

  • Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21

  • Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on February 28

In between these amazing events, watch the recording of last week’s Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! We heard from almost 20 congregations actively engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030 process designed to transform our congregations through climate justice. Get inspired, then get involved!  

Reimagine with Energy Democracy

Please join us for Reimagining with Energy Democracy this Thursday, January 25, to explore the ways Energy Democracy reimagines a world where everyone thrives and recreates the systems we need to bring about that future.  

Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems. We invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities.

Join Side With Love and special guests from the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar, and POWER Interfaith for a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET. Register to join us!

Get inspired with the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!

During our January Community Meeting, we hosted the annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration.  Almost twenty Active Green GS2030 congregations shared highlights of their current work.  Green Sanctuary 2030 teams engage in intersectional actions that align with our Four Essentials of Climate Action: Justice, Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, and Mitigation.  Learn from your fellow UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice! If you’re ready to join the community, sign up for an orientation and join us for our monthly community meetings.  The GS2030 orientations are the first Wednesday of each month, and the community meetings are the third Wednesday, both events are at 7ET.  

Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary Community Meeting

Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!

Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!  

The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!

For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.

Join UUSC on the Hill!

Join the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in Washington, D.C on Wednesday, January 31 to visit Members of Congress to advocate for solutions to the climate crisis.

We will be demanding that Congress take action to protect vulnerable communities from the devastating effects of climate-forced displacement:

  • Advance community-led solutions to climate-forced displacement in the United States; those closest to the problems are experts on the solutions.

  • Ensure Indigenous communities have the resources they need to apply for federal funding from bills like the Inflation Reduction Act.

  • Take accountability for the damage caused by U.S. fossil fuel dependency by increasing U.S. funding for the Loss and Damage fund.

Please visit bit.ly/UUSCHillDay to let us know if you’ll be attending and for a more comprehensive schedule. Please feel free to email Ivanna D’Alencon at idalencon@uusc.org if you have any questions.

Join the UU Ministry for Earth Board!

If you have a deep and embodied commitment to uplifting the need to face and adapt to the climate crisis, counter environmental injustice, and support the flourishing of all life, and if you feel drawn to support and contribute to the many offerings of the UU Ministry for Earth (www.uumfe.org), please reach out to the UUMFE Nominations Committee to share your strengths and desire to be part of the team. UUMFE is looking to develop a dynamic, multicultural, multigenerational anti-oppressive Board, inclusive of people of color, trans and gender-nonconforming people, young people, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, and/or frontline communities; people who self-identify with such identity are especially welcome to apply. Please contact SearchTeam@UUMFE.org to submit your resume and letter of interest. For details on roles and responsibilities of Board members, go here.

This Month: Learn, Act, and Reimagine for Climate Justice

Recording and Resources: Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!

22 January 2024 at 17:30

On January 17, Side With Love gathered to celebrate the good work our congregations are doing to create Green Sanctuary in our communities! Green Sanctuary teams shared how they're transforming their communities through congregational transformation, climate justice, mitigation, and community resilience. Watch the recording here.

Resources from the meeting:

If you have questions about the Green Sanctuary process, you can reach out to Rachel at Environment@UUA.org. Learn more about the Green Sanctuary 2030 process, RSVP to attend an orientation, or sign up to join the community here. Stay up to date on Green Sanctuary 2030 by joining our email list here.

Upcoming Events

Image description: Graphic with a green and yellow gradient background and an open head with colorful flowers blooming out. Text reads, "Reimagining with Energy Democracy. January 25. 4 PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7 ET." Logos: Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, Side With Love, Create Climate Justice, People Power Solar, POWER Interfaith, UU Ministry for Earth, Re-Amp Network, UUs for Social Justice, UUs for a Just Economic Community, UU Service Committee, UU College of Social Justice, JUUstice Washington, and UU Women’s Federation.

Reimagining with Energy Democracy
January 25, 2024 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET | Online

Join us for Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25! For the last in our webinar series on Clean Energy as a Human Right, we invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities. Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems.

Join the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns (OH), People Power Solar (CA), and POWER Interfaith (PA) for Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25, 2024 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET Cosponsors include: Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar Cooperative, Power Interfaith, UU Ministry for Earth, UU Women’s Federation, UUs for Social Justice, UU Service Committee, UUs for a Just Economic Community, Re-Amp Network, UU college of Social Justice, JUUstice Washington, UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina, Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley. RSVP here: bit.ly/EnergyDemocracyWebinar.

Image description: Graphic with watercolor sunflowers on a green background. At the top is a white UUA chalice and the Green Sanctuary 2030 logo, a chalice lit with a leaf flame. "Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle. Wednesday, February 28. 1pm PT / 2pm MT / 3pm CT / 4pm ET."

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle
February 28, 2024 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET | Online

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC! RSVP here!

Tending SOIL

Reach out to Rev. Cathy Rion Starr if you'd like to learn more about the Tending SOIL (Skills, Organizing, Interdependence, Liberation) program at CRionStarr@UUA.org. To learn more, watch the introductory video here.

Recording and Resources: Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!

30 Days of Love, Week Two: Reimagining Climate Justice

21 January 2024 at 21:25

The North Carolina Climate Justice Collective offered a framework for the 4 Rs of Social Transformation for people working on climate: 

  • Resist: working against the current systems

  • Reform: working within the current systems

  • Reimagine: envisioning a just new system

  • Recreate: creating models for a  just new system

We need people learning, acting, reflecting in each of the four areas.  One approach is not better than the other; rather, they are complementary and each approach is as important as the other.  Take a moment to think about yourself and the way you approach climate justice . . . Are you a Reformer committed to policy change?  Do you take to the streets as a Resister?  Do you orient to dismantling and creating new systems?  Do you light up with the possibilities of Recreating?  Once you find your natural inclination to this framework, ask yourself which approach feels the most difficult for you?  Which one do you admire the most?

When I first learned about this framework, the first prompt was: “Where are you in your work?” And the second was, “Where are you in your heart?” For me, most of my climate work has been squarely in the reform and recreate with resist sprinkled throughout.  In my heart, I reimagine.  For me, the magic happens when we are curious, exploring new ways of thinking and being in relationship with each other and the planet.  Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts  and embrace our coulds.  What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world?  What does the idea of “reimagining” climate justice call to mind for you?  How does it feel in your body when you think of reimagining the future?  When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.  

If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence.  For the Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice (see video) event in May 2023, we asked now Pres. Sofía Betancourt, Dr. Rashid Shaikh, and Antoinette Scully to draw a picture of the world they want to see.  If you imagine the world we want to create, what does it look like?  How does it feel?  What does not exist in that future world?

Above is the illustration of the discussion. You can download or print the full-color image here (pdf). We also offer a black/white outline (pdf) of the drawing for printing to color at home or school.

Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice.  If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive.  

Reimagining is not spiritual bypassing.  It is not daydreaming with no action.  It does not dismiss the harmful systems of oppression or ignore the climate disruption that is breaking our communities and our world.   As we work toward a future where all are free, we must dream beyond our current circumstances.  Those dreams are the seed of that future, and as we believe, we begin to shift our relationships, our commitments, and our actions to creating that world.  

2023 was the hottest year on record, and we broke the record for billion dollar disasters by September.  As we experience the climate crisis, we become increasingly distressed at the perilous state of our world. Climate anxiety, eco-anxiety, and climate grief are breaking the hearts of so many.  Reimagining the future we want can soothe this anxiety while also helping folks recommit to meaningful action.  

How?  What are the connections between anxiety and imagining?  How can reimagining inform our resistance?  Our efforts to reform?  What systems do we need to create?  As we reimagine together, what new (and ancient) ways of being can we bring to our relationships?  To our organizing?  To our inner work?  How can reimagining nourish our individual and collective spirits for the long haul?

We invite you to explore these questions and more as we reimagine together this 30 Days of Love.

Rachel Myslivy is the climate justice organizer for the UUA's Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team.

See all of the Week Two offerings for 30 Days of Love 2024

30 Days of Love, Week Two: Reimagining Climate Justice

Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration and More Upcoming Climate Justice Events

8 January 2024 at 14:06

Get energized and inspired by Active Green Sanctuary 2030 Teams during our Annual Celebration on January 17, then explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities with Reimagining with Energy Democracy during 30 Days of Love on January 25.  Read on to learn about these events + see all of the great Green Sanctuary 2030 community meetings we have planned this winter and spring.  Great things are happening with Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice!

The Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!  

Are you ready to share the good work you’re doing?  The annual Celebration is a time for our Active Green Sanctuary 2030 Teams to come together to share something you’re excited about, something you need help with, or what you’re thinking about doing! Sign up today!

Teams will have a short two or three minute slot to share.  Don’t overthink it!  🙂  We’ll handle all of the tech, advancing slides, and whatever else you need to feel comfortable sharing.  Your job is just to come and share what you’re up to with other UUs who are working to transform our congregations through climate justice.   

Monthly Community Meetings

Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate.

Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.

30 Days of Love: Reimagining Climate Justice

Side With Love is thrilled to announce 30 Days of Love 2024! Our annual month of spiritual nourishment, political grounding, and shared practices of faith and justice, 30 Days of Love will go from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 15) through Valentine’s Day (February 14). 

30 Days of Love is a gift to our whole community: a love letter, a warm hug, a spiritual balm for all of the individuals, families, religious professionals, partners and communities that embody our values and work for justice and liberation year round. Each week will feature a spiritual theme overlapping with one of Side With Love’s intersectional justice priorities, and we'll share an array of offerings to help nourish your spirit and give gratitude and affirmation. All offerings are curated to support building disciplines and resources for life-long work for justice grounded in the deep Love that is at the center of our faith.  We’ll focus on Reimagining Climate Justice during the second week of 30 Days of Love.  

We invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities. Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems. Join the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns (OH), People Power Solar (CA), and POWER Interfaith (PA) for Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25, 2024 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET

This is the last in our series on Clean Energy as a Human Right, which included Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding, Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience, Light for All - UU Ministry for Earth’s Winter Solstice Celebration, and lastly, Reimagining with Energy Democracy.  Sign up today!

Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle

We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?!  If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities.  Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!  RSVP today!

Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration and More Upcoming Climate Justice Events

Recording and Resources from Not Just Stop Cop City, Session One: The Environment

30 November 2023 at 19:33

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Love Resists teamed up earlier this month to host the first webinar (in a series of three) to educate people about the “Cop City” project underway in Atlanta and equip them to stop this destructive plan (and similar schemes elsewhere in the U.S.).

We invite you to:

As one of our speakers said, we choose relentless optimism in the face of this struggle! Confronting the sponsoring companies about their harm to our community is the first step leading up a corporate divestment campaign AFSC will lanch in January 2024. Please stay in touch for opportunities to take further action to Stop Cop City!

Please attend our second webinar in this series, addressing abolition, on December 6th.

To stay connected with our speakers and their efforts to combat environmental justice and environmental racism:  

  • Join Dr. Jacqueline Echols and the South River Watershed Alliance in contacting the regional and national EPA to remove priority language from the Dekalb consent decree, and support SRWA’s legal fund to help Stop the Swap of public park land to a private developer. Connect with them on Instagram @southriverforest @southriverga 

  • Follow founding editor of the Atlanta Community Press Collective, Sam Barnes on Twitter/X and support ACPC’s work

  • Follow Commissioner Ted Terry on Twitter/X for ways to support his appeal of Dekalb County’s land disturbance permit issued to the Atlanta Police Foundation

  • Get involved with organizer Neil Sardana and Georgia Conservation Voters efforts to Stop Cop City and help combat the environmental racism of Georgia’s Public Service Commission

Recording and Resources from Not Just Stop Cop City, Session One: The Environment

Recording & Resources for Earth-Aware Worship: November Green Sanctuary Community Meeting

16 November 2023 at 15:40

We hope you enjoyed last night's Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meeting with Rev. Kelly Dignan from the UU Ministry for Earth as much as we did!  Rev. Kelly offered lots of great resources in her presentation (see the video recording or slides) and the community offered several in the chat.  We encourage you to sign up for updates from the UU Ministry for Earth - www.uumfe.org - to receive their resources like Monthly Musings and their Earth Day Resources (emailed to subscribers on February 1).   You can reach out to Rev. Kelly directly at kellydignan@uumfe.org.  

Make sure to RSVP for UUMFE's Winter Solstice Celebration: Light for All on the Darkest Night.  This celebration is part of the Clean Energy as a Human Right webinar series including, Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding and Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience with Federal Clean Energy Funding.

Are you ready for the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration on January 17?  We can't wait to hear updates from our GS2030 Teams.  Fill out this short form to let us know that you'll be there to share your good work.  Presentations need to be no more than 3 minutes long so we can make room for everyone!   Complete the form to let us know you want to present and make sure you RSVP here!

Congratulations to the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, North Carolina on their Green Sanctuary 2030 Recognition!  UUFR has completed significant work on each of the four essentials for climate action - Congregational Transformation, Mitigation, Adaptation & Resilience, and Justice with plans for continued action.  Great work UUFR!

Resources: 

Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta is the book Rev. Kelly mentioned:

Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Environment, edited by Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Jennifer Nordstrom (Skinner House Books, 2018), as the 2018-19 Common Read.

Cultural appropriation. Two links from the UUA website:

Resources for Cultural (Mis) Appropriations

Considerations for Cultural Borrowing

The Monthly Musings issue on humility includes the poem: Homage to Rocks.

Sign up for UU Ministry for Earth updates, and keep an eye out for Earth Day resources which will be shared on February 1.  

Additional resources

How to find joy in climate action" TED talk.

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication has been tracking opinions on global warming for many years through their 6 Americas surveys and Yale Climate Opinion Maps.  You can use the YPCCC Six Americas Super Short Survey (SASSY)  to survey your congregation’s opinions on climate change.  Lots of great resources on this site!

Recording & Resources for Earth-Aware Worship: November Green Sanctuary Community Meeting

Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience Recording & Resources

15 November 2023 at 12:20

Side With Love joined Denise Abdul-Rahman from Black Sun Light Sustainability, Shina Robinson from Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and Miguel Yanez-Barnuevo from Environmental and Energy Study Institute for an informative discussion on ways you can turn your faith into action to create hubs of climate resilience for our communities. This was the second session of our webinar series on Clean Energy as a Human Right.

Below are resources from the webinar:

Shina mentioned her work with PSE Healthy Energy as a great technical partner for the RYSE hub. They developed a resilience hub mapping tool with info on solar and storage capacity for community centers, public schools, and places of worship, along with data about EJ burden and climate threats, available here.

How can we think more expansively about transforming our buildings and grounds into hubs of climate resilience? If your congregation is thinking about installing solar panels with the 30% direct pay option, think about adding battery backup (which has an additional 30% option) to offer your buildings as an emergency shelter in extreme weather or a cooling center during power outages.

We hope you'll continue to be a part of this series on Clean Energy as a Human Right! Please register for the next event:

Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience Recording & Resources

Recording: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding

28 October 2023 at 00:25

The first webinar in Side With Love’s series toward Clean Energy as a Human Right: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding, was offered October 25, 2023.

While congregations are excitedly learning about federal clean energy funding, how can make sure we're prioritizing justice in our actions? How can put our faith into action to ensure those most impacted by climate disruption benefit the most?

Featuring Just Solutions, Emerald Cities Collaborative, and Rewiring America , this webinar covered how your congregation can put your faith into action to advance visionary approaches to clean energy funding with justice at the center.

This event was co-sponsored by Side With Love, Interfaith Power & Light, Blessed Tomorrow, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, and UU Ministry for Earth.

Engage in the full Clean Energy as a Human Right webinar series with Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding on 10/25, Creating Hubs of Community Resilience on 11/9, UUMFE's Light for All on 12/20, and Reimagining with Energy Democracy in 2024.

Recording: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding

Recording and Resources: Webinar: Net Zero by 2030, Oct. Green Sanctuary Community Meeting

24 October 2023 at 11:58

We know we need to get to Net Zero and fast, but how? The People's Church of Kalamazoo has made a commitment to cut their emissions to achieve Net Zero by 2030. We joined Tom Hackley from People's Church to learn how their Green Sanctuary Team is working to meet this ambitious and critical goal!

Video of Oct 2023 Green Sanctuary webinar

Recording and Resources: Webinar: Net Zero by 2030, Oct. Green Sanctuary Community Meeting

Net Zero or bust! How UU congregations can meet this ambitious goal!

6 October 2023 at 16:05

One facet of very localized climate justice work is through our Green Sanctuary 2030 program and we invite all UU congregations to join us - either once or as part of your Green Sanctuary process. Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice anchors to the reality that we need to reduce emissions dramatically by 2030 if we are to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change. 

The Green Sanctuary process provides a framework for congregations to adopt a justice-centered, comprehensive approach that can support congregations to hit Net Zero.  Our community meetings provide shared learning and mutual supports for UUs transforming their congregations through climate justice.  So, while we all know we need to reduce emissions, often the biggest question is, “how?”


The People's Church of Kalamazoo has made a commitment to cut their emissions to achieve Net Zero by 2030. Join Tom Hackley from People's Church to learn how their Green Sanctuary Team is working to meet this ambitious - and critical - goal!  Join the October Green Sanctuary Community meeting on October 18 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7 MT to learn more!


Has your congregation hit your net zero goal or are you just starting to think about it?  We want to hear from you!  We are building out a resource guide for congregations to adopt measurable and achievable goals towards net zero.  We’d love to know what you’re thinking! Complete this short form or email Environment@UUA.org to share your plans and approaches to this critical goal.


View our previous gatherings

Climate Justice Brainstorm

Surprise Lessons in Congregational Transformation

Navigating Conflict in Our Climate Work

Net Zero or bust! How UU congregations can meet this ambitious goal!

Clean Energy as a Human Right: from a technical solution to a moral imperative

29 September 2023 at 13:46

“When was the last time you changed your mind about something?”  

For many of us who’ve been working on environmental issues, we’ve become experts on particular things, and - truth be told - it’s a lot easier to stick with what we know than to stop, reflect, and reorient ourselves to new understandings.  However, this is exactly what we are called to do if we are to center justice in our climate work.  Over my years as a climate advocate, organic farmer, and faith-based organizer, I’ve had to reorient and reorient and reorient again because I keep learning.  That’s a good thing!  

As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.”  The more I learned about the injustices in our energy system, for example, the more I wished I had done things differently in my early organizing.  I’ve had to learn and unlearn and relearn and check myself over and over again because I need to continuously improve to better center justice.  Does this resonate with any of you?  

Side With Love’s Create Climate Justice Campaign organizes Unitarian Universalists (UUs) to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive.  One of the big things I’ve learned and reoriented to over the years is understanding clean energy as a human right.  Clean energy only works as a climate solution if it is accessible to everyone.  Clean Energy as a Human Right reframes clean energy from a technical solution to a moral imperative.  

As congregations are eagerly learning about the 30% direct pay option for solar and battery backup, we need to continue to challenge ourselves to ground our actions in justice while holding a liberatory vision of the future.  For example, what would it look like if our congregations put on solar and battery backup storage and offered our buildings as shelters during climate disasters, power outages, or extreme heat?  Or if our congregations advocated at city and county levels to weatherize and electrify low-income neighborhoods, which reduces energy bills and improves air quality and quality of life, all while reducing the pollution that causes climate change?  

Over the next several months, you’ll have multiple opportunities to learn more about Clean Energy as a Human Right from some of the organizations who continue to inspire and challenge me to do better, including:

Rachel Myslivy

Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer


The recording is now available for our September Green Sanctuary Community Meeting, Navigating Conflict in Our Climate Work.

Upcoming trainings and gatherings include:

Clean Energy as a Human Right: from a technical solution to a moral imperative

Navigating Conflict in Our Climate Work: Recording & Resources

29 September 2023 at 12:51

Conflict is inevitable. What plan do you have to engage? Let’s get together and explore ways to transform harm and restore relationships in our congregations with Wendy Weirick, a Restorative Circles Facilitator. You’ve met her as a Side With Love Zoom host who has held the Green Sanctuary and Climate Justice gatherings with tender care as we lean into this work. Now, she invites us in to share one of her passions, conflict at the community level.

Navigating Conflict in Our Climate Work: Recording & Resources

Fall Programming from Side With Love: Learn, Gather, and Connect

8 September 2023 at 13:28

This can be a bittersweet time of year for so many, but we are taking joy in what UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt reminds us is the time when we “come back to each other in our congregations and communities.”

Whether you are coming back to your community after a long time away or whether you have been there all summer, we are grateful for your shared ministry toward collective liberation and beloved community. 

This summer, Side With Love program and field staff created a wealth of events, resources, and opportunities to balance the need to rest and play with the necessity of honing our skills and staying informed and prepared to respond to the ongoing attacks on communities and people beloved of us.

Whether you need a space to grieve and pray, the opportunity to gather with others doing the work, or dedicated time to learn, we have something that will serve you.

Learn

Image description: Graphic with an illustrated cloud of Zoom screens with people waving, posing, and showing off their pets. Text reads, “Fall 2023 Skill Up Series. Summoning Courage. Oct. 15: Risk Discernment for Congregations. Nov. 19: Faith Out Loud. Jan 21: Community Safety & Security.”

Skill Up Series: Summoning Courage

Skill Ups are our monthly training series on various organizing skills to help strengthen our congregational and community justice teams. These trainings incorporate spiritual fun and hands-on exercizes to help deepen the lesson. Skill Ups occur every 3rd Sunday for 90 minutes, starting at 4 ET / 3 CT / 2 MT / 1 PT.

Check out the collection of past Skill Ups here.

Gather

Image description: Graphic with a candle painted in warm watercolors on a beige watercolor background. Text reads, "Faithful Grounding. Monthly virtual gathering. 4th Thursday of the month. 4:30 PT / 5:30 MT / 6:30 CT / 7:30 ET. An hour of spiritual sustenance & grounding with others organizing on the side of love."

Faithful Gathering

Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. 

Show up as you are, with whatever is in your heart, and have your camera on or off as you need.

Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer.

We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together.

This gathering happens monthly on the 4th Thursday of the month at 4:30 PT / 5:30 MT / 6:30 CT / 7:30 ET.

Register Now

Connect

Image description: Graphic with tangerine and white nodes and links forming a network on a black background. Text reads, "Side With Love Monthly Mixer. Monday, September 11. 5pm PT / 6pm MT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET."

Monthly Mixers

Following the success of our virtual and in-person mixers for General Assembly, we're thrilled to announce our virtual monthly Side With Love Mixer.

This mixer will be held the 2nd Monday of every month at 5pm PT / 8pm ET.

We know that these times ask a lot of us -- and we know we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground; if you are showing up for and with Side with Love; and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.

Register now!


We continue to be committed to our four intersectional justice priorities, work that is even more urgent as we daily see attacks against our climate, democracy, reproductive rights, and our trans and non-binary beloveds.

Create Climate Justice

Image description: Green and white graphic showing an equation made up of Side With Love logos and text, reading “Side With Love + Climate Justice = Create Climate Justice.”

Register for our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings, view past trainings, download our Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care toolkit, subscribe to our dedicated email newsletters for climate justice and the Green Sanctuary 2030 program, and plan a screen of our powerful event, Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice, with UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt. Learn more.

UPLIFT Action

Image description: Dark blue and white graphic showing an equation made up of logos and text, reading “Side With Love + Reproductive & Gender Justice (Including Trans Rights) = UPLIFT Action.”

Sign up for our dedicated email on reproductive and gender justice (including trans rights), download our Congregational Reproductive Justice Action Guide, learn about our monthly gatherings for Trans/Non Binary+ UUs, and view our past trainings including Responding to Far Right/White Christian Nationalist Threats; “Moral Obligations Transcending Legal Codes”: The Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion; and The Body Politic: Faithful UUs Showing Up for Trans Justice. Learn more.

Love Resists

Image description: Red and white graphic showing an equation made up of logos and text, reading “Side With Love & UUSC + Decriminalization = Love Resists.”

Find spiritual practices for challenging moments, connect with Stop Cop City organizing, subscribe to our dedicated Love Resists newsletter, download our curriculum for the 2021-2022 Common Read Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment; and view our training on arrestee support, What do we do when our conscience goes to jail?: UUs showing up for UUs who show up. Learn more.

UU the Vote

Image description: Light blue and white graphic showing an equation made up of logos and text, reading “Side With Love + Democracy & Voting Rights = UU the Vote.”

UU the Vote is now a proactive, year-round program to advance voting rights and democracy. Subscribe to our dedicated newsletter for campaign updates, learn about how UUs are protecting democracy throughout the year, and stay up-to-date on events and trainings. Learn more.

Fall Programming from Side With Love: Learn, Gather, and Connect

Tell Your Elected Officials: End Fossil Fuels Now

25 August 2023 at 14:15

If you aren’t already, start talking to your elected officials about climate justice.  As we mobilize to end the era of fossil fuels, the People vs. Fossil Fuels Elected Officials pledge is a great way to connect with city, county, and state officials to build relationships for ongoing engagement on local climate action, energy, pollution, and climate disaster preparedness plans.

Use the Side with Love Click to Call to connect with state senators and representatives, and reach out personally to your city and county officials to sign this pledge. We need as many elected officials as possible to join us in pushing President Biden to end the era of fossil fuels ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit and March to End the Era of Fossil Fuels in New York this September.  Learn more about these efforts at SideWithLove.org/UUClimateJustice.

Tell Your Elected Officials: End Fossil Fuels Now

Embrace a Visionary Approach to Clean Energy as a Human Right

25 August 2023 at 11:49

Last week was the one year anniversary of the most ambitious climate policy and clean energy investment in history. The Inflation Reduction Act includes incentives to make the clean energy transition and a decarbonized life easy and financially smart. With discounts and tax credits for home owners and renters and a 30% direct pay option for congregations, the IRA is a game changer. I’ve heard from so many UU congregations looking into solar, energy efficiency, and our IRA Peer Learning Circle Team of energy wonks are hard at work figuring out the best options for our people. Go team!

Friends, I invite you to think even bigger. What about all of the things we can do to decarbonize our communities to make sure that these federal funds help our neighbors most at risk of climate disruption?  Always when we’re doing climate work, we need to think about what climate injustice looks like in our communities. Who are the most impacted by climate disasters, extreme heat, winter storms, or floods? Where are the “sacrifice zones” in your community? Who is impacted and how? Who are the people organizing in those communities? Find the harm, then ask those closest to it how you can help. Racial justice is climate justice. Although the IRA has tremendous potential, we’ve got miles to go to achieve the equitable transition to a clean energy future we need. 

We need to embrace a visionary approach as we put our faith into action to ensure those most impacted by climate disruption benefit the most from federal clean energy funding. 

New Date: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding Webinar

Image description: Graphic with an illustrated planet Earth in shades of green, placed in a bed of leaves and flowers, with smaller leaves and stars swirling above it. Dark blue and black text says, "Webinar. Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding. Date TBD" Logos: Create Climate Justice, Interfaith Power & Light, Blessed Tomorrow, Unitarian Universalists for Economic Justice, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice.

We are working on a new date for our Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding webinar, which will provide a framework of abundance with justice at the center.

Learn about the ways your congregation can advocate to electrify low-income neighborhoods, partner to weatherize low-income homes, and leverage our power to ensure that federal clean energy funding decreases disparities, builds community resilience and advances clean energy as a human right.

RSVP now to be notified when we finalize the date in September!

Tell Your Elected Officials: End Fossil Fuels!

If you aren’t already, start talking to your elected officials about climate justice.  As we mobilize to end the era of fossil fuels, the People vs. Fossil Fuels Elected Officials pledge is a great way to connect with city, county, and state officials to build relationships for ongoing engagement on local climate action, energy, pollution, and climate disaster preparedness plans.

Use the Side with Love Click to Call to connect with state senators and representatives, and reach out personally to your city and county officials to sign this pledge. We need as many elected officials as possible to join us in pushing President Biden to end the era of fossil fuels ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit and March to End the Era of Fossil Fuels in New York this September.  Learn more about these efforts at https://SideWithLove.org/UUClimateJustice

Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregational Community Training in September

Image description: Graphic with a white background and a paint smear in the upper lefthand corner. Green text reads: Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting with the logos for Green Sanctuary and Side With Love on each side of the text. In blue text, it reads Navigating Conflict in our Climate Work with Restorative Conflict Circles. In black text, it reads September 20 4PT / 5MT / 6CT / 7ET. There is the logo for Create Climate Justice and then a light green paint smear in the lower righthand corner.

This work is hard, but together we can shape a future with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all communities thrive. Our last Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Surprise Lessons in Congregational Transformation, provided excellent perspective on ways to work together to advance climate justice and increase collaboration in our congregations and communities. 

Although no one likes to talk about it, conflict is inevitable when working together. Next month’s discussion will cover Navigating Conflict in Our Climate Work with Restorative Conflict Circles. If you’re ready to learn more about the new Green Sanctuary, I invite you to attend a monthly orientation session on the first Wednesday of the month. Join the conversation!

As Unitarian Universalists, our faith calls us to be agents for change. However, sometimes this work can feel lonely, draining, daunting, or disconnected from our spirituality. UUMFE’s Action-Reflection Circles address both the yearning to tie our work to Unitarian Universalism and the call to transform ourselves and the world.  Join with other UUs on a regular basis to share stories about your actions and strategies, restore your resilience, deepen your solidarity skills, and tap into our UU faith tradition as a source of strength.

There is so much to be done, and it is so much more joyful when we do the work together.  

In community,

Image description: A white person wearing dark frame glasses, with shoulder length light brown hair, stands surrounded by tall ferns. They are wearing a black Side With Love t-shirt and a jacket. They are smiling.

Rachel


Rachel Myslivy

Climate Justice Organizer, Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team

Unitarian Universalist Association

Embrace a Visionary Approach to Clean Energy as a Human Right

Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings: Fall Schedule

11 August 2023 at 17:50

I’m excited to share the fall Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting Schedule, which will include explorations into congregational transformation, conflict resolution, pathways to net zero, and worship resources.  Please share these events with your congregation!

 RSVP for the August 16 GS2030 Community Meeting: Surprise Lessons on Congregational Transformation!  

The Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice framework guided the First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor's climate leaders to change the way they look at their work... or make that the congregation's work. UUAA has a history of environmentalism that has mostly focused on mitigation, on decreasing our carbon footprint. Enrolling in GS2030 guided them to rethink things -- to look more at climate justice (yikes! that's hard!) and congregational transformation (what is that?) As a result they have sparked more cross-group collaborations, increased our community outreach activities, and, well, maybe they're having more impact! RSVP today!   Read on for the full community meeting schedule. 

Does this opportunity have your name on it?

The GS2030 Community is growing!  As a result, I’m looking for folks to help organize our community.  This could look like volunteering to do the spiritual opening and closing, helping plan community meetings, and whatever else comes up.  Let me know if you’re interested in joining the GS2030 Planning Team!   

Send us your surveys!

Have you ever wished there was a go-to survey to gauge interest and activities in your congregation’s Green Sanctuary work?  Have you used a survey that was awesome?  Please send surveys you’ve used to Environment@UUA.org.  And then…help us create a model survey!  As we collect these surveys, we’d like a few folks to help draft a model survey all congregations could use for their GS2030 work.  Let me know if you’re interested in helping out! 

Have you used the online Progress Report Form yet?  Try it today!

If you use this form to report your GS2030 Actions, it can eliminate the need for a final report.  Yay, less paperwork!   It also helps me see the exciting things happening in our community.  Check it out!

GS2030 Fall Meetings

all at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET

We'll host our annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration in January 2024!

 I hope to see you all next Wednesday!

In community,

Rachel

Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings: Fall Schedule

How can we make this the last summer of extreme weather?

8 August 2023 at 17:33

This has been a hard summer. We’ve experienced some of the worst extreme heat on record: July 2023 is the hottest month on record, and 2023 is on track to be the hottest year ever. In Texas, incarcerated human beings have been struggling to endure the extreme heat without air conditioning. Agricultural workers, construction workers, roofers, outdoor workers, and those who work in unairconditioned spaces are all at increased risk of heat-related illness and death with no federal protections for heat. Temperatures are too high for birds and other wildlife to cope. Ocean temperatures exceeding 100 degrees threaten marine life. As of today, the US has had 15 confirmed billion-dollar weather/climate disaster events, including 1 flood, 13 severe storms, and 1 winter storm resulting in 113 deaths.

This is just a small sample of the climate disasters we’ve experienced. It’s been a hard summer in a hard year on top of so many hard years.

Sometimes it just feels like too much. As I’m writing this, my heart is racing, my shoulders tensed up, my jaw is clenched, and I’m holding my breath.

Let’s pause to breathe together. Take a moment to relax your shoulders, gently move your head in a slow circle, take a breath as you’re able, and slowly, slowly, slowly exhale. Let’s hold in our hearts our neighbors who are suffering. In your mind’s eye, picture a living being or place that makes you smile. I’m picturing the Roseate Spoonbill that recently graced Wisconsin with its presence for the first time in over a hundred years.

Now, imagine that creature or sacred space thriving.

Even as climate disasters wreak havoc on our communities, even as we take action for climate justice, we need to resource ourselves and nourish our spirits. (Rev. Sofía Betancourt, Ph.D shared prayers for those impacted by extreme climate in one of her first statements as UUA president.)

It’s important that we are grounded in the present as we dream of a better world.

Without a clear vision of the world we want, we run the risk of prioritizing short-term gains and false solutions. Where we mistakenly advance legislative goals disconnected from cultural shifts and get derailed by things that divide our focus and distract us from long-term goals, and we run the risk of our movements unintentionally upholding injustice.

Here at Side With Love, our Climate Justice Campaign uses spiritual grounding & nourishment, political education, skill building, leadership development, and mobilization with the goal of supporting Unitarian Universalists (UUs) in cultivating thriving communities that advance a just and equitable transition to a clean energy future. We facilitate shared learning, mutual support, and collective action as we work together to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all communities thrive.

I’m proud to share the ongoing work held by our collective climate justice and Green Sanctuary congregations, communities, and organizations. In particular, our events hold the precious hope that will sustain us while we use the various tactics and campaigns to allow that hope to flourish into the future. I hope I’ll see you at one or more of these events.

Rachel

PS: If you haven’t already, I recommend you check out our Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care Toolkit for your congregational and community use.

Rachel Myslivy,

Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer

Sources: “July 2023 is Hottest Month Ever Recorded on Earth”; "2023 is on track to be the hottest year on record"; “Texas prisoners struggle to endure heat wave in facilities without air conditioning”; "Heat can kill on the job, and these workers are dying"; "In New Mexico, temperatures are too high for birds to use their usual coping methods"; "With Florida ocean temperatures topping 100, experts warn of damage to marine life"; Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters


Thriving Communities

Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice Community Meetings offer spaces for shared learning and mutual support for anyone working to transform our congregations through climate justice.

We invite you to join any one of our amazing fall offerings to explore:

Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Join us for a Community Meeting on the 3rd Wednesday of the month or an Orientation on the 1st Wednesday of the month.


Clean Energy as a Human Right

To realize a world where all communities thrive, we need to advance clean energy for all. While congregations are excitedly learning about the funding opportunities for solar, energy efficiency, and more through the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal funding opportunities, we must continue to center justice in our efforts.

RSVP for the Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding Webinar on August 29 at 1ET to inspire and inform your congregation to make sure these opportunities benefit those most impacted by climate change.

Join Sylvia Chi, Just Solutions Collective; Sonia Kikeri, Emerald Cities Collaborative; Jamal Lewis, Rewiring America; and Miguel Yanez, Energy and Environmental Study Institute to learn how your congregation can put your faith into action to advance visionary approaches to clean energy funding with justice at the center.

No More Fossil Fuels!

Side With Love continues to Mobilize UUs to End the Era of Fossil Fuels! In New York this September, the United Nations Secretary-General is hosting a first-of-its-kind Climate Ambition Summit to demand that nations stop the fossil fuel expansion that is driving the climate emergency. Thousands of will march to demand President Biden take bold action to End Fossil Fuels.

Urge Your Elected Officials To Take The Pledge to Phase Out Fossil Fuels!

We want as many elected officials - from mayors and city council people to state senators and representatives - to join us in pushing President Biden. So, we need EVERY UU to go to the elected officials that represent you and ask them to sign this pledge by AUGUST 30.

Watch the webinar about the Pledge, hosted by UUs for Social Justice, UU Ministry for Earth and Side With Love, check out the Toolkit for Elected Officials and the Elected Officials Pledge .

Make the call to your Congresspeople with Side With Love’s Click-to-Call action.

If you’re in the New York City area and want to join the march on September 17, contact Rev. Peggy Clarke at pclarke @ ccny.org or via Facebook.

How can we make this the last summer of extreme weather?

Recording for Climate Justice Brainstorm: Green Sanctuary Community Gathering for June 2023

21 June 2023 at 11:20

We know we need to focus on climate justice, but where do we start? For many Green Sanctuary Teams, the Justice campaign is the most challenging and also the one with the most room for growth and collaboration.  View the recording for our June community gathering in which we discussed and brainstormed how to enact climate justice in our congregations and communities.

Recording for Climate Justice Brainstorm: Green Sanctuary Community Gathering for June 2023

We can imagine collapse - can we imagine renewal?

23 May 2023 at 12:26

I love a good post-apocalyptic story.  I grew up on movies like Mad Max,  BladeRunner, and Soylent Green.  When Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction) became a named genre, I was elated to find a host of books curated for my particular weirdness like N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series, Tatterdemalion by Sylvia Linsteadt, and of course, the life-changing Earthseed series by Octavia Butler.  (I confess, I don’t know if this prepares me for a lifetime working on climate justice or if it just gives me a reference point of “Whew, it’s not that bad, yet.”)  

Our society loves a good story of survival after collapse, but what about a vision where all beings thrive?

It seems easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine a world without fossil fuels.  If we can so creatively imagine collapse, what would it look like if we similarly imagine renewal?  What if climate activists embraced the visionary reimaging we see in the abolition movement?  How can we reimagine a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive?

These are the questions of our times.  

“In order to build the movements capable of transforming our world, we have to do our best to live with one foot in the world we have not yet created…” Aurora Levins Morales

Imagine it's 2050 and we've achieved all of our wildest hopes for climate justice...what does it look like? Do we UUs have a vision of what a just climate future is? Without a clear vision of a world where all can thrive, we run the risk of prioritizing short-term gains, false solutions, legislative goals disconnected from cultural shifts, and distractions that divide our focus. 

I invite you to tune into Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice this Thursday, May 25 at 7ET with Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, Ecowomanist theologian and sole candidate for UUA President*; Dr. Rashid Shaikh, director of science emeritus at the Health Effects Institute in Boston and co-convenor of the UU Ministry for Earth Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Caucus on Climate Justice; and Antoinette Scully, National Organizer for the UU Women's Federation. 

Together, these UU leaders will share their own abolitionist vision of climate justice while discussing what it means for UUs to hold these radical visions and what we need to do to realize this flourishing world.  

Following the webinar, Side With Love will host workshops to support UUs to host similar visions of climate justice in our own communities.  These visions can guide our conversations and shape our work to ensure that our movements are building a thriving future for all. 

* NOTE: This event is cosponsored by Side With Love, UU College of Social Justice, UU Ministry for Earth, UUs for Social Justice, and UUs for a Just Economic Community; and is not a campaign event

Yours in community

Rachel Myslivy

Climate Justice Organizer



We can imagine collapse - can we imagine renewal?

How UU Congregations Can Access IRA Funds for Clean Energy Solutions - Webinar Recording & Resources

22 May 2023 at 13:47

Are you wondering if Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds can transform your congregation? They can! With 30% direct pay options for churches and nonprofits, IRA funds present a great opportunity for UUs to reduce our carbon footprint while cultivating communities of care and prioritizing climate justice. Even better, the UUA has funding options to help you maximize IRA funds!

In this webinar, join Carey McDonald, UUA Executive Vice President, to learn about how you can leverage UUA funding options with IRA funds for an even bigger impact.

Upcoming Webinars

UUA Funding Opportunities

Benchmarking resources


Questions?  Email Environment@UUA.org

How UU Congregations Can Access IRA Funds for Clean Energy Solutions - Webinar Recording & Resources

End the Era of Fossil Fuels Mobilization for UUs, June 2023

2 May 2023 at 14:47

Biden promised to be a climate president – yet under his watch, the U.S. continues to be the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world. In the first few years of his term, he approved more lease sales for new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters than Trump. And his administration has approved new oil and gas projects, like the Willow oil drilling project in Alaska and multiple oil and gas export terminals in the Gulf. Global scientists have been abundantly clear – we cannot avoid the very worst impacts of the climate crisis if we allow for any more fossil development.

UUs, it’s time to show up!  

This June, People vs. Fossil Fuels are mobilizing to turn up the heat and make Biden take real climate action – by ending the era of fossil fuels.  Join us for a national week of action  June 8th - 11th 2023 to demand Biden use his executive powers to end the era of fossil fuels and declare a climate emergency! 

With mobilization tools like individual coaching, communication templates, action plans, and more, PvFF and partners are supporting folks to host bold, creative, and disruptive actions to lift up their local fights against oil and gas developments.  

May Mobilization Call

Join Side With Love, UUMFE, and People vs. Fossil Fuels for a conversation about the campaign, distributed actions, and supports available, including coaching and movement chaplaincy for UUs.  This will be an open space for UUs to come together and discuss plans for End the Era of Fossil Fuels Distributed Actions

Hosted by  Side With Love, UU Ministry for Earth, and People vs Fossil Fuels, the webinar included an overview of the campaign, ways you can bring the action into your congregation, and opportunities for Movement Chaplaincy support for UUs engaging in the actions.  

Action Steps:

  1. Review the Action Toolkit for planning your action

  2. Add your event to the Action Map or join an existing effort in your area https://tinyurl.com/actionmap-EndtheEra

  3. If you’re hosting an event, request coaching support from PvFF 

  4. Join PvFF Action trainings 

  5. RSVP for Movement Chaplaincy with UUMFE to prepare: May 30, 2023 4PT-5MT-6CT-7ET

  6. Add Your Event to the Side With Love Action Center so other UUs can find you!

  7. Tell us what you did!  Add your action to the Side With Love Story & Report form

  8. RSVP for Movement Chaplaincy to debrief: June 15, 2023  4PT-5MT-6CT-7ET

End the Era of Fossil Fuels Mobilization for UUs, June 2023

Green Sanctuary 2030 Monthly Gathering for April: Solar 101 + IRA Funds

26 April 2023 at 15:35

Michael Cohen, Solar United Neighbors, gave an overview on Solar for congregations and share a little about the process the First Unitarian Church of Orlando is going through to consider installing solar with IRA funds.

You can watch the presentation and check out Michael’s Handy Links for UU Congregations on Energy Efficiency & Solar.  

What’s Next?

What next?  Join us in May to learn about how you can leverage UUA funding options with IRA funds for an even bigger impact.  On May 17 at 7ET for Carey McDonald, UUA Executive Vice President, will discuss IRA funds and UUs: Funding Clean Energy and Climate Solutions!  With 30% direct pay options for churches and nonprofits, IRA funds present a great opportunity for UUs to reduce our carbon footprint while cultivating communities of care and prioritizing climate justice. Even better, the UUA has funding options to help you maximize IRA funds! Register Now

About Green Sanctuary 2030

Are you thinking about joining the Green Sanctuary 2030 process?  Come to an orientation to learn more and get started!  Orientations are the first Wednesday of each month at 7ET.  Sign up for these and all Climate Justice events at https://sidewithlove.org/climatejustice.

 


Find our other climate justice and Green Sanctuary 2030 webinars here.



Green Sanctuary 2030 Monthly Gathering for April: Solar 101 + IRA Funds

Celebrate Earth Week with Action, Worship, & Education

24 April 2023 at 08:45

Happy Earth Week! For environmentalists, the month of April means there’s an event every day of the week - sometimes several! With all of the Earth Day Celebrations, we wanted to pop into your inbox to highlight a few of our favorites.

In collaboration with UU organizations and national partners, Side With Love is here to help you balance the urgent need for political education and mobilization with spiritual nourishment and leadership development. This week, you can nourish your spirits at the Active for Earthcare Service with the UU Ministry for Earth, develop your leadership skills at the Side With Love April Skill Up: Facing the Apocalypse with a Smile with yours truly, educate yourself on Solar 101 + IRA funds with the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, and mobilize with UUs for Social Justice on the Farm Bill, and with People vs. Fossil Fuels to End the Era of Fossil Fuels! Join us!

In community,

Rachel Myslivy


Spiritual grounding & nourishment

UU Ministry for Earth Earth Day service: April 20 at 5PT - 6MT - 7CT - 8ET

Our faith calls us into relationship with the sacred elements of Earth and to put power in the hands of the many and not the few. This Earth Day, join the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth in meditation, song, and stories to honor nature’s elements and become Active for Earthcare – a call to engage in the face of the climate crisis. This worship structure may be a bit different from what you are used to — lean into it and enjoy the journey!

You can join the service live on April 20th, 8pm EST/7pm CST/6pm MT/5pm PST or use the resources on whatever Sunday works best for your congregation’s worship calendar. Once your congregation is registered, the videos will be sent to you on April 7, 2023. Register today!

Political education

Solar 101 + IRA funds: April 19 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET (90 mins)

Michael Cohen, Solar United Neighbors, will give a quick primer on Solar for congregations and share a little about the process the First Unitarian Church of Orlando is going through to consider installing solar with IRA funds. Join the Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 7PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Register today.

Skill building & leadership development

Facing the Apocalypse with a Smile: April 23 at 1PT - 2MT - 3CT - 4ET

Everywhere you look the world is on fire! Sometimes you just want to scream at the top of your lungs, “Everything is bad! Do something! AAUGH!!!!” That urgency is real, and also maybe not the best way to communicate about the issues - or to take care of yourself! 

Rachel Myslivy, Side with Love Climate Justice Organizer, will help you learn ways to manage yourself and engage others as you effectively advocate for justice and work for a thriving world for all. Our Unitarian Universalist faith calls us to be lifelong learners, and organizing traditions teach that we need to share what we know for our movements to grow. Our Squad Skill Ups are a monthly series of trainings on organizing skills to help build our UUtheVote and Side with Love Volunteer Squads and help YOU build stronger teams in your congregation and community. Skill Ups occur the 3rd Sunday of most months. Register today.

Take Action

Mobilize with UUSJ to Advocate for the Farm Bill

The Farm Bill presents a critical opportunity to advocate for a climate-smart agricultural sector that advances justice. We want and need a proposal that moves the agricultural sector in a sustainable and regenerative direction. As faith advocates, we have a moral imperative for a greener Farm Bill and kick-start a multi-cycle effort to push the sector and our food systems in the direction of solutions.

  • Send a message using their online letter platform

  • Distribute an Action Poster so others can do the same.

  • Join virtual Hill Visits with UUSJ: fill out the meeting interest form HERE or email advocacy@uusj.org.

Mobilize to End the Era of Fossil Fuels with People vs. Fossil Fuels

April 19 at 5PT - 6MT - 7CT - 8ET - Register here

The 350 Network Council, Center for Popular Democracy, Climate Organizing Hub, Honor the Earth, and People vs Fossil Fuel partners are co-hosting the Era of Fossil Fuels Mobilization Call on April 19th at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET on Zoom. This call is meant to welcome folks who have been brought into the movement by the Biden Admin’s disastrous decision to approve the Willow project in Alaska and help them plug into the movement to End the Era of Fossil Fuels around the country. This event will inform attendees about the PvFF campaign and our broader strategy–particularly our commitment to climate justice and solidarity with Black and Indigenous leaders who have driven this work for generations.

(Yes, we know this conflicts with our Solar 101 + IRA Funds! You can join Solar 101 first, then hop over to this one!)

Celebrate Earth Week with Action, Worship, & Education

Webinar: Connecting with State Action Networks on Climate Advocacy - Recording & Resources

20 March 2023 at 14:02

This month's Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Connecting with State Action Networks on Climate Advocacy, highlighted ways to engage with UU State Action Networks to advocate for policies that reduce emissions at the local, state, and national levels.  Special thanks to Deb Cruz from JUUstice Washington and Rev. Lisa Sampson-Garcia from UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina for leading the conversation! 

UU State Action Networks do powerful justice work across the country, and they offer timely information on actions affecting your community, including: 

  • Resources and research on justice issues.

  • A community of like-minded folks you can activate for specific events.

  • Support and guidance for getting your congregation involved in justice work at the local level.

  • Justice-oriented worship services to inspire and inform your congregation.

  • Professional development and networking opportunities.

If you’re interested in getting involved with legislative advocacy and justice work that impacts your local community, find the SAN nearest you or consider starting your own!  

What’s Next?

We've got some excellent opportunities for shared learning and mutual supports in our upcoming Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings!  RSVP today!

April 19: Solar 101 + IRA Funds!  Michael Cohen, Solar United Neighbors, will give a quick primer on Solar for congregations and share a little about the process the First Unitarian Church of Orlando is going through to consider installing solar with IRA funds.   

May 17: Funding for Congregational Clean Energy & Climate Solutions UUA’s Executive Vice President, Carey McDonald, will share UU-specific funding mechanisms to use in conjunction with the Federal Funding opportunities to advance equitable clean energy and climate justice.  We encourage you to watch the recent webinar on Planning the Energy Future of Your Congregation to prepare for this conversation. 

**We're planning to host peer learning circles to support congregations considering IRA funding for clean energy & Climate solutions.  Email Environment@UUA.org for more info!

June 19: Climate Justice Brainstorm!  For many Green Sanctuary Teams, the Justice campaign is the most challenging and also the one with the most room for growth and collaboration.  Bring your questions and ideas and join the conversation!  

You can RSVP for these and all of our climate justice events at SideWithLove.org/ClimateJustice

Webinar: Connecting with State Action Networks on Climate Advocacy - Recording & Resources

This month: faithful action on trans rights, climate justice, and decriminalization

10 March 2023 at 15:19

While I wish I had something pretty or pithy to observe about spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m mostly thinking about the amount of live programming blossoming right in front of us. Through partnership with congregations, individual UUs, and our UU State Action Networks, we’re all able to “take shifts for the revolution,” as Rev. Ashley Horan says. I see the evidence of that daily in the stories and updates from around the country of UUs and other people of faith and conscience who are fighting for our trans beloved and who are fiercely resisting legislative attacks on climate, decriminalization, and trans children and families. (If you haven’t yet, read the beautiful op-ed by Rev. Sara LaWall from Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, ID about why her faith demands she protect and affirm her trans child.)

This month, we have opportunities for faithful and faith-filled actions for justice and rejuvenation. Please share in your congregation and community. 

In faith and solidarity,

Audra Friend

Digital Communications, Data, and Technology Specialist

Side With Love 


Wednesday, March 15, 2023 7 -  8:30 PM ET / 6 CT / 5 MT / 4 PT

Connecting with State Action Networks on Climate Advocacy

Online

UU State Action Networks do powerful justice work across the country. How can your congregation engage with your State Action Network on climate justice advocacy and actions? Join Deb Cruz and Rev. Lisa Sampson Garcia to learn more! --- Join the Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Register here.


Sunday, March 19, 2023 4 - 5:30pm ET / 3 CT / 2 MT / 1 PT 

Skill Up: Evaluation is an Act of Love

Online

In this skill-up, you will practice ways to bring debrief culture and loving feedback to your own context. We need to be able to speak directly and frankly to each other about what we want and need from each other, what we think could be done differently, as well as celebrating our successes. Every time we love one another enough to offer debrief and appreciation, we deepen our relationships and the power of our collective. We can create groups and communities grounded in relationship and trust. Thus, we can meet the justice work of the moment powerfully and nimbly. Register here.


Wednesday, March 22, 2023 8 -  9:30 PM ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT

The Body Politic: Faithful UUs Showing up for Trans Justice

Online

UUs have long been part leaders in powerful multifaith movements fighting for trans and queer rights and liberation. Join UPLIFT Action and Side With Love staff for this webinar, lifting up the faithful work UUs are engaging in right now in the context of the wave of hateful legislation and violence against trans and queer people. We'll hear stories from congregations and State Action Networks on the ground, and point toward ways you and your community can take meaningful action. Register here.


Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:30 -  8:30 PM ET / 6:30 CT / 5:30 MT / 4:30 PT

Faithful Grounding

Online

Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register here.


Friday, March 31st at 8pm ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT

UUA Trans Day of Visibility Virtual Party for Trans/Nonbinary Families

Online

As legislators pass harmful laws in states all across the country and as people of faith and no-faith fight back, we want to remind transgender/nonbinary families that they are not alone. Register here.


As Unitarian Universalists we believe that every body is sacred. This will be a time of reflection, celebration, and renewal as we prepare for what is and whatever is coming our way.

*NOTE: This space is intentionally multi-generational. It is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. Standard UUA online safety measures apply to ensure all people under 18 are able to attend. We're glad to have you here! 


Saturday, April through Monday, April 3

Intergenerational Spring Seminar: Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire

Online and in-person, Minneapolis, MN

This year's UU@UN Intergenerational Spring Seminar has the theme of “Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire,” and takes place both in-person in Minneapolis and online April 1-3.

As an intergenerational event, Youth are especially encouraged to attend!

Militarized policing is a dire problem both in the U.S. and globally, and this year's Seminar aims to help us increase our understanding of abolition and equip ourselves with skills to take action. Our keynote will be given by Andrea Ritchie, co-author of No More Police, and other programming will offer a mix of workshops, worship, and debrief. 

Registration is tiered with a free, no-cost option for those who need it! Learn more and register here.

This month: faithful action on trans rights, climate justice, and decriminalization

Recording and resources from Planning the Energy Future of your Congregation Webinar

28 February 2023 at 16:04

On February 21, 2023, Side With Love Create Climate Justice, Interfaith Power & Light, and others hosted a webinar on Planning the Energy Future of Your Congregation

Learn about the importance of benchmarking your facilities’ energy use to shape your congregation’s plan to cut energy costs and care for our sacred Earth. This is the first step to making a plan to take advantage of federal funding, like the Inflation Reduction Act. Presenters include: Jerry Lawson, National Manager of EPA’s Energy Star for Small Businesses and Congregations; Sarah Paulos, Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregations Program Director and Tom Hackley from People’s Church of Kalamazoo, MI. This webinar is part of a series hosted by Interfaith Power & Light and our faith partners.

Big kudos to the People's Church of Kalamazoo Michigan, a UU Society, for sharing their journey to Net Zero!  If you were there live, you probably noticed how many UUs were in attendance!  Go team! 

Are you an energy wonk with a knack for navigating federal policy?  Do you love helping others brainstorm opportunities for clean energy upgrades?  Or maybe you're just really excited about the IRA and other federal funding opportunities for equitable decarbonization?  We're looking for a few good UUs to support shared learning around federal opportunities to fund the clean energy transition. Email Environment@UUA.org for more information.

Recording and resources from Planning the Energy Future of your Congregation Webinar

Federal Funds, a Fossil Fuel Free Future, and Faith-filled Transformation

17 February 2023 at 16:23

It's an exciting time to be a climate activist.  After years of fighting for federal support for equitable clean energy, we're seeing historic investments with enormous potential.  For UUs, who have been leaders in the faith climate movement, now's our time to shine.  Think big.  Think systems.  Think resilience.  Think love.  Think of all the ways our congregations can be hubs of climate resilience and community care.    

How can we build our capacity as UUs to faithfully respond to these opportunities?  What would our communities look like if clean energy was a human right and all people could thrive?  With trainings on benchmarking and UU-specific funding strategies and leadership opportunities, we're skilling up to rise to the challenge! 

At the same time, we can't let our guard down in the fight for a future without fossil fuels that honors the interdependent web of existence and the inherent worth and dignity of all.  Join the movement to Stop Cop City with a week of Solidarity Actions - February 19-26.  Make the connections between Stop Cop City and the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline with a teach-in hosted by Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR).  Advocate for those impacted by the catastrophic environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio.   

When it comes to climate justice, we need to multitask.  With multiple, overlapping crises - healthcare, attacks on trans lives, housing inequality, racial injustice, threats to our democracy, and climate disruption everywhere we look, we need intersectional solutions informed by the lived experiences of those most impacted.  How can we do this when our volunteers are overextended, budgets are tight, and the problems are so complex?  Join other UUs transforming their congregations through climate justice.  Green Sanctuary 2030 (GS2030) provides a flexible, manageable, and impactful process to transform our congregations through climate justice. GS2030 teams come together for shared learning and mutual supports on topics like Young Adult Engagement, Collaborating on State Advocacy, and more.   

Together, we can advance a just and equitable transition to a fossil fuel free future where clean energy is a human right and all communities thrive.   

Join us! 

In community,

 Rachel Myslivy

Climate Justice Organizer

UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team


Webinar: Young Adults in UU Congregations: Not Just Committee Members!

Come learn from Zoe Johnston, UU Young Adults for Climate Justice, about ways to engage young adults in your congregation, especially with your Green Sanctuary 2030 and other climate justice organizing.

How do we get young adults involved?  Where do we find them? 

How do we support them? View the presentation.


How can UUs access federal funding for solar or energy efficiency projects? 

With Justice 40, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)  there are so many opportunities for our congregations to be leaders in the transition to a just and equitable clean energy future!  There are opportunities for individuals, buildings, communities, and state/county/city level advocacy.  The UUA is partnering with Interfaith Power and Light, the Energy, Environment, and Study Institute and others to help UUs learn about and access these funds.  

Are you an energy wonk with a knack for navigating federal policy?  Do you love helping others brainstorm opportunities for clean energy upgrades?  Or maybe you're just really excited about the IRA and other federal funding opportunities for equitable decarbonization? 

We're looking for a few good UUs to skill up our congregations on these amazing opportunities! 

Volunteer to help support shared learning and facilitate an emerging peer learning circle around federal opportunities to fund the clean energy transition.  Ready to jump in?  Email Environment@UUA.org!


Get to know the new Green Sanctuary!

Are you thinking about joining the Green Sanctuary 2030 community?  GS2030 offers UU congregations a flexible, manageable, and impactful process to transform our congregations through climate justice.  GS2030 teams engage in four intersecting campaigns to advance climate justice, congregational transformation, adaptation and resilience, and mitigation.   

We hold GS2030 Orientations on the first Wednesday of the month and Community Meetings on the Third Wednesday of the month, both meetings are at 7ET.  Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice! 

You can RSVP for these and all of our climate justice events at SideWithLove.org/ClimateJustice!

Federal Funds, a Fossil Fuel Free Future, and Faith-filled Transformation

Recording for Webinar: Young Adults in UU Congregations: Not Just Committee Members!

17 February 2023 at 10:53

Come learn from Zoe Johnston, UU Young Adults for Climate Justice, about ways to engage young adults in your congregation, especially with your Green Sanctuary 2030 and other climate justice organizing.

How do we get young adults involved?  Where do we find them? 

How do we support them? 

In this Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, we learned from Zoe Johnston with UU Young Adults for Climate Justice about ways to engage young adults in our congregations, especially with Green Sanctuary 2030 and other climate justice organizing.  

Zoe shared some helpful framing for effective YA leadership, including: 

  • Timing:  hold meetings outside of school and work hours

  • Accessibility: hold meetings on Zoom or in physically accessible spaces

  • Focus:  the work of your group speaks to the lived experiences and material reality of young adults

  • Dynamics:  Name any possible power dynamics that are play. When we are transparent, we can build deeper trust.

  • Value the presence, input, and perspective of young adults!


Join the Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Find past meetings and register for upcoming ones at sidewithlove.org/climatejustice

Recording for Webinar: Young Adults in UU Congregations: Not Just Committee Members!

Week Four of 30 Days of Love 2023 focuses on Resilience and Climate Justice

5 February 2023 at 09:02

The climate crisis isn’t happening in a vacuum. With attacks on Black lives, trans kids, and reproductive justice all in the face of increasing fascism and white supremacy, rampant gun violence, and ongoing pandemic, sometimes it feels like tragedy is everywhere all the time.

And yet, so is love. So is courage. So is resilience.

Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy’s reflection for this week considers the way Resilience is found in our work for justice, including climate justice.

Later, she writes: “The strength of “what if” is what helps us continue in this work. And so, what is our resilient, loving way?”

This week’s offerings for 30 Days of Love includes pieces we hope bolster, strengthen, and encourage our collective resilience: a blessing by Rev. Leah Ongiri, a body practice by QuianaDenae Perkins, a new Time for All Ages by Yvette Salinas, a prayer by Rev. Terri Burnor, and another grounding practice by Lora Powell-Haney. We hope these continue to nurture you.

Week Four of 30 Days of Love 2023 focuses on Resilience and Climate Justice

No More Fossil Fuels + Clean Energy as a Human Right = Two things you can do right now!

16 December 2022 at 13:42

For our communities to thrive in a fossil-free dream world, we must have robust, equitable clean energy systems that center justice and the lived experiences of those on the front lines of climate change. Focusing on clean energy as a human right elevates just and equitable clean energy strategies like energy justice, energy democracy, community solar, energy efficiency, and more. As many of our congregations are gearing up to apply for Federal funding for clean energy projects, it’s important that we embrace a visionary and prophetic approach that ensures a clean energy future for all - no sacrifice zones! Stay tuned in 2023 as we dig into these issues to help UUs decarbonize our communities, not just our sanctuaries!

UU Ministry For Earth is hosting a special Solstice celebration December 21 that invites us all to pause, reflect, and honor all that life brings. Register here to join.

Transforming our congregations into clean energy hubs

We need to dramatically reduce emissions by 2030 to avert the worst impacts of climate change and preserve a livable planet. It’s critical that we do this work in a way that prioritizes justice. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 44% by 2030. With funds for churches and nonprofits to implement clean energy projects, the IRA is a great opportunity for UUs to reduce our carbon footprint while cultivating communities of care. Now is the time to think big and broad as we consider these clean energy projects in our communities.

How can UU congregations transform to clean energy hubs or centers of community care? Think big!

  • Pair solar with energy storage to offer our buildings as community resilience shelters during severe weather or other emergencies causing power outages.

  • Energy efficiency upgrades in our buildings improve air quality, community health, wellness, and resilience, all while saving money and reducing emissions. Empower the energy wonks in your congregation to work with lower-income housing groups or neighborhood associations to increase energy efficiency in your community.

  • Installing solar or energy efficiency upgrades on our buildings reduces emissions AND saves money we can redirect toward our justice work. Ultimately, these projects generate economic development and jobs, strengthen communities, and create community wealth.

  • As our UU teams become experts on the opportunities (we all will, right?), we can partner with other churches or nonprofits in our community to share the knowledge, learn together, and expand access to clean energy.

We’re here to help!

The UUA is partnering with Interfaith Power and Light, Environment and Energy Study Institute, and the United Church of Christ to develop a series of workshops for congregations throughout 2023. Watch the recording of the Federal Funding Resources for Nonprofits & Houses of Worship Briefing today, and sign up for our Climate Justice updates so you don’t miss a beat - and encourage your friends to as well!

Get your congregation ready!

  • Form (or revitalize!) your Green Team, and launch Green Sanctuary 2030 in your congregation. GS2030 will help you form a balanced approach to climate action, ensuring justice is at the center. Get a good team inspired and ready to go - with regular support from our monthly community meetings that are open to anyone working on congregational transformation through climate justice.

  • Join our Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration on January 19th to honor the decades of work invested by our congregations and make the commitment to climate justice by 2030!

  • Benchmark your building

  • Get an energy audit from your utility (often they are free)

Resources from the webinar:

No More Fossil Fuels + Clean Energy as a Human Right = Two things you can do right now!

Learn to access Inflation Reduction Act grants for clean energy improvements at your congregation!

29 November 2022 at 12:47

Side With Love is partnering with Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) and the Energy and Environmental Study Institute (EESI) to host a briefing to learn about the benefits included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that can help houses of worship do energy work on their facilities. 

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the most sweeping clean energy and climate legislation in history. With clean energy tax credits for wind and solar, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, heat pumps, and more, the IRA sets a course to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 44% by 2030, while saving thousands of lives, creating millions of good-paying clean energy jobs, investing in environmental justice, and reducing energy bills for working families across the country.  Although it’s not perfect, the IRA presents an historic opportunity for climate action.   

The IRA opens the way for non-profits and houses of worship to access clean energy funds and tax credits.  UU Congregations can now leverage federal funds for energy and resiliency improvements.  This is a critical time for people of faith to reduce the impact of our congregational facilities through the federal funding opportunities.   

Additionally, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides the Department of Energy with $50 million over five years for an "energy efficiency materials pilot program" for nonprofit organizations. This new program will provide grants of up to $200,000 to nonprofits to improve the energy efficiency of their facilities.  

Join Interfaith Power & Light, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association for a briefing on Federal Funding Resources for Nonprofits and Houses of Worship on December 8 at 4pm ET/1pm PT.  Learn how to prepare to apply for Energy Efficiency Materials Pilot Program grants for your congregation’s energy efficiency work.

Register Now

Additional resources:

Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice

Join fellow UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice.  Climate justice calls us to reduce the emissions that cause climate change, adapt to changing climate conditions, and increase resilience to worsening climate impacts through congregational transformation and community engagement. We must balance the urgency of the climate crisis with the need to center justice in our actions. Opening our minds and hearts to learn and collaborate with communities most impacted will ensure a just transition to a clean energy future where all can thrive.

Join the Green Sanctuary community!

Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 7ET - 6CT - 5MT - 4PT. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs.  

January 18, 2023 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM CT

online

The Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration will spotlight the amazing work UUs are doing through the GS2030 program. Active Green Sanctuary congregations will share their successes, challenges, and ideas. Come to learn, leave inspired! All are welcome!

Faith Community Resource Spreadsheet

IPL has created this faith community resource spreadsheet to help houses of worship identify federal grant and tax credit opportunities that are available.  Federal agencies are still in the process of developing the guidance and programs for the Inflation Reduction Act. This IPL resource document will be updated as new program guidance becomes available. 

IPL’s Cool Congregations Calculator 

Now is a great time to benchmark your buildings – line up 12 months of utility bills, find out the construction date of your building, track occupancy rates, and use IPL’s Cool Congregations Calculator to learn more about your congregation’s carbon footprint. 

Learn to access Inflation Reduction Act grants for clean energy improvements at your congregation!

Resources & Next Steps from Climate Disaster Response Webinar Session Three

17 November 2022 at 12:45

Thank you so much for signing up for “Community Conversation”, the third and final workshop in our series on “Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care”. Whether you attended in real-time or plan to watch the recording later, we are grateful for your commitment to building communities of care in the face of climate disasters.

Recording and materials for Session 1

Recording and materials for Session 2

Next Steps

How can we continue to grow community around climate disaster preparedness and response?  What do UUs need to foster communities of care in the face of climate change?  How can we work together to cultivate thriving communities?  

Tell us what you need! 

Thank you for engaging in one or more of the workshops on Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care.  We’ve loved learning alongside UUs across the country on ways we can make our communities stronger and more resilient.  For our final workshop in the series, we want to hear from you

How can we support your Climate Disaster Response and Community Care initiatives?

Please let us know what you learned from the workshops, what challenges you're facing as you organize climate disaster response in your congregation, and - most importantly - how we can help!  The Side With Love Team is here for you.  Tell us what you need!

We have all sorts of ideas: We could host regional meetings!  We could organize gatherings around climate disaster topics like fire or floods!  We can put together more resources!  The possibilities are endless!  Tell us what would be most impactful to your work on these issues.  Help us build this work together!

Please let us know what you need by filling out this brief survey

Resources & Next Steps from Climate Disaster Response Webinar Session Three

Three Ways We Can Advocate for Climate Justice in November

9 November 2022 at 18:17

In order to achieve climate justice, we need significant policy shifts supported by powerful grassroots organizing. We must pressure governments for meaningful climate action, while advancing climate solutions in our communities to ensure that all people can thrive.  We also need time to regroup, unlearn, and learn anew.  With all of this in mind, we invite you to engage in one or all of the exciting climate justice opportunities this month.  You could start by joining the final workshop in our Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care series on Tuesday, November 15 at 7 ET, or zoom in to get the latest updates on COP 27 Activities with the UUMFE Daily Discussions on COP27.  Last, but not least, we invite you to Rethink Thanksgiving.

Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care:  Community Conversation

Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? This is the third workshop in our series which includes Assessing Climate Impacts & Making Connections, Mobilizing for Action, and finally, Community Conversation, which takes place on Tuesday, November 15 at 7ET.  Connect with other UUs to discuss the issues and identify opportunities for learning, reflection, and action with Side With Love. 

COP27

The Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a critical annual convening where the 198 Parties of the UN who signed the Convention on Climate Change meet to negotiate multilateral responses to climate change.  The UUA, UUSC, and UUMFE send delegates to COP to represent our UU values.  

COP27 will be held from 6-18 November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh.  The UUA is approved to send observers from civil society to COP 27 through the UU Service Committee (UUSC) and UUA at the UN Office and will elevate these key priorities:

1.  Ensure the active & meaningful participation of civil society from the global south.

2.  Protect the human rights of civil society and their freedom of expression

3.  Act swiftly to address the issue of climate-forced displacement (see the UU Joint Statement on Climate-forced Displacement, Human Rights, and Community Resilience).

     a.  Mitigation

     b.  Loss & Damage

     c.  Adaptation & Resilience

     d.  Climate Finance (see Take Action with UUSJ below)

For background, check out UUSC’s What is COP27 and Why Does It Matter?, watch COP 27 Events Live & On Demand via YouTube, or join UUMFE Daily Discussions on COP27 with Doris Marlin and Dr. Bill McPherson that will happen periodically through December 7.

Rethinking Thanksgiving

Indigenous solidarity is an essential part of the struggle for racial and environmental justice. It is critical that we deepen our commitment to Indigenous Sovereignty in ourselves and in our movements, take collective action towards land rematriation and support efforts to ensure a just and sustainable existence for all of our future generations.

Join American Indian Law Alliance, NDNCollective, Tonatierra, Sogorea Te Land Trust and the Indigenous Solidarity Network (made up of SURJ, Resource Generation and Catalyst Project) for “Rethinking Thanksgiving: From Land Acknowledgement to LANDBACK” on Sunday, November 20 at 1pm PT/4pm ET. This webinar is an invitation to interrogate so-called Thanksgiving, and move beyond the myths of America's history with Indigenous People on Turtle Island.

Register for the webinar here: bit.ly/rethinkingthanksgiving2022

From tar sands pipelines across Turtle Island to Arctic oil and gas drilling, Indigenous campaigns of resistance continue to lead the way in protecting future generations against the destruction of sacred lands and waterways.

Moving into a deeper understanding of how colonialism is embedded into our frameworks and systems builds our capacity to be better allies to Indigenous Peoples. In this webinar, we will hear from the frontlines of Indigenous efforts to resist violence and colonization fueled by the current extractive economic system and gather ways to further and deepen solidarity with Indigenous resistance including land rematriation.

Live Captioning, ASL and Spanish interpretation will be available on the call. Fill out this form https://forms.gle/zwK4cAsy3wYkBWvi8 for questions about accessibility.

Three Ways We Can Advocate for Climate Justice in November

Resources & Next Steps from Climate Disaster Response Webinar Session Two

9 November 2022 at 16:58

Thank you so much for signing up for the “Mobilizing for Action,” the second workshop in our series on “Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care”.  Whether you were able to attend in real-time or plan to watch the recording later, we are grateful for your commitment to building communities of care in the face of climate disasters.   

Next steps:  

  1. Make sure you RSVP for the third and final workshop in this series: Community Conversations on November 15.  We encourage you to invite 1 or 2 more people from your congregation to attend, so we can continue to grow our community of support!

  2. Check out the  Climate Disaster Response for UUs GuideThis guide is chock full of tools and resources to help individuals and congregations to Assess Climate Impacts and Mobilize for Action.  Every community is different, and climate impacts will vary at the hyper-local level.  Some neighborhoods may be devastated by a hurricane while others experience only minor impacts.  Adequate preparation and response for climate disasters must center the lived experiences and impacts of climate disasters on those most at risk.  We’ve paired tools for each section to help you think through every step of the process.

  3. Join the conversation!  If you are looking for another place to connect with others working on climate justice, join us on the Side With Love Slack Channel.  You can join at this link:  http://bit.ly/SideWithLoveSlack. Check out the #climate-justice-general or #climate-justice-green-sanctuary channels to find your people! 

  4. Tell us what you’re doing and what you need!  We’d love to hear how your congregation is preparing for climate disasters and how we can help!  Please email RMyslivy@UUA.org and let us know!

Resources & Materials from Session 2

Linked below are materials & resources from our October 25 session on “Mobilizing for Action.” These resources and more can be found in the UUA Climate Disaster Prep Google Drive Folder.

In addition, you can access a copy of the slides or watch the recordings from previous workshops at the links below:

September 27 slides - recording

October 25 slides - recording 

We invite you to share this recording and these resources with others in your congregation as you explore how to incorporate what was discussed into your own efforts to support your community through any experiences of climate disaster. Consider consulting with key congregational leadership to complete your Congregational Asset Map, or begin to identify who in your broader community has the most direct knowledge and experience of the climate threats in your area. 

If you have any other questions or ideas for how we can support your organizing for climate justice in the face of climate disasters, please email us at Environment@UUA.org. We want to hear from you about what kind of gatherings, workshops, or coaching will help you live your UU values to the fullest in community

 

We look forward to seeing you again on November 15!

 

In faith & justice, 

Rachel Myslivy Rev. Ranwa Hammamy

Climate Justice Organizer Congregational Justice Organizer

Side with Love Side With Love

Resources & Next Steps from Climate Disaster Response Webinar Session Two

Let’s come together this fall to make our world differently, so all beings thrive.

26 October 2022 at 10:07

If you pay attention to climate issues, you know that not a day goes by without at least one major headline, whether it's a hurricane, wildfire, political posturing, or new technology; climate is in the news. I'll tell you that my heart has been heavy this past week or so because of a headline I saw explaining that animal populations have declined almost 70% since 1970.

One of my mentors used to say that focusing on climate change is too small and sustainability isn’t enough.  We also have to think about species extinction, environmental justice, and the many other intersecting social and environmental justice issues.

As for sustainability not being enough: You don't want your marriage to be sustainable; you want it to flourish!

So even as I've been mourning the loss of all of the blessed, beautiful creatures, I've been holding in my mind and heart all of the blessed, beautiful creatures who remain, who make our world the beautiful, blessed place that it is. I’ve been trying to visualize the creatures I love flourishing - the manatees, blue whales, black-footed ferrets, wolves, American burying beetles (I have a soft spot for decomposers), Mead's Milkweed, California Redwoods, and all the others….flourishing. Our world, flourishing.

We know that we are losing so, so much, and so many precious beings, and we must balance that knowledge with a vision of a thriving, flourishing community filled with radical hope and grounded action. As Mariame Kaba said, “Hope is a Discipline.” We can do this together.  What is the creature, being, or place that you most want to save, that gives you hope when your heart is weary? What will you fight hardest to save?

I invite you to take a moment as you read this to think about the beings that you love, the places that make your heart sing, the things you will fight to save.  If you have time, check out this beautiful, challenging, and inspiring video of the UN Climate Summit Poem "Dear Matafele Peinem"  Every time I watch it, it fills me with wonder, fear,  joy, sadness, anger, and hope -  all of the emotions I need to commit again, every day, to climate action.  

In our hearts, all climate activists hold the goal of making the world a better place, making it different, and making it so we all thrive. David Graeber says, "The ultimate, hidden truth of the world, is that it is something we make, and could just as easily make differently."  How can we make our world differently, together, so all beings thrive?  

Here’s one idea:  VOTE FOR CLIMATE.  Did you know that people who prioritize climate tend to skip midterm elections?  There are millions of people who prioritize climate but don’t vote.  I know that many of us have been disappointed by the glacial pace of climate change policy.  I know we’ve been frustrated that politicians say they’ll act on climate, then we see little change.  I know it’s hard to keep trusting in a system that has not adequately responded to the crisis.  Believe me, I know.  AND STILL, we need to turn out every climate voter this November.   Let’s come together this fall to make our world differently, so all beings thrive.  

a person in a yellow Side With Love shirt stands in front of green trees and bushes. They have hair in a braid and are smiling.

In community,

Rachel


Rachel Myslivy is Side With Love’s Climate Justice Organizer. Get updates from Create Climate Justice by subscribing here.

Let’s come together this fall to make our world differently, so all beings thrive.

Actions and Events from Create Climate Justice

23 September 2022 at 19:18

Redlined communities or “sacrifice zones” also bear the highest energy burdens in the country, with low-income communities spending three times more of their income on energy costs. I’m sure these percentages are much higher now as energy costs have skyrocketed in the past year.

Urban heat islands plus high energy burdens plus poor air quality combine to increase incidents of violence and mental health crises in redlined communities, which leads to increased incarceration and criminalization of people of color. In short, it's impossible to separate struggles for climate justice and racial justice, because they are so deeply intertwined both here in the US and across the globe.

As part of the deal to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Senators Manchin and Schumer have introduced a separate piece of legislation that would fast-track permit approvals for dangerous fossil fuel projects in September. Thursday was a huge day in the fight against the dirty pipeline deal being pushed by Senator Manchin. This bill would force approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, fast-track other fossil fuel projects, and undermine environmental protections and community review.

Will you join us in taking action to Stop Manchin’s Dirty Deal?

We need to be as loud as possible over the next four days and demand that every member of Congress oppose this dirty deal.

Please take 60 seconds right now and call your U.S. Senator! Dial 888-997-5380 and tell them to oppose Manchin's pipeline deal.

The People vs. Fossil Fuels Coalition has released a toolkit to #BlockTheDeal, including supported actions to call or send a letter to your member of Congress and amplify this Toolkit for action.

Workshop: Engaging Marginalized Communities

Thanks to Rev. Ranwa Hammamy for their presentation on Engaging Marginalized Communities in the Green Sanctuary Team Meeting. If you missed it, you can watch the video of the meeting here!

Take (and share!) the Climate Justice Voter Pledge!

Confronting climate change requires electing officials and enacting policies at every level, which means everyone who cares deeply about climate and environmental justice must turn out to the polls. To respond to the climate crisis we must take individual and community action! Share the UU Climate Justice Voter Pledge: https://SideWithLove.org/ClimateJusticeVoterPledge

Tell Congress to Pass The Environmental Justice For All Act

The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a significant step toward greater investment in clean energy. Unfortunately, some provisions of the IRA may stimulate fossil fuel production and worsen pollution in areas already saturated by heavy industry. As part of the compromise that allowed the bill to go forward, Senator Manchin is now proposing loosening procedural protections around energy projects, making it even harder for affected communities to have a voice in approving these projects, many of which inflict environmental harm on communities of color. It is, therefore, more necessary than ever for Congress to pass the Environmental Justice for All Act, introduced in both the Senate and House and recently passed by the House Natural Resources Committee. Email congress: Environmental Justice for All!

Join the Side With Love Slack community!

Connect with others working on climate justice through the Side With Love Slack Channel. You can join at this link. Check out the #climate-justice-general or #climate-justice-green-sanctuary to find your people!

Upcoming Events

Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care

Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? Join this series of workshops with activities to help you identify the climate risks, understand who is most at risk and how your community will be impacted. From there, make a plan to prepare for and respond to climate disasters in your neighborhood.

This workshop is part of a series. Sessions: All sessions are 90 minutes long and begin at 7pm ET/ 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT

Green Sanctuary Team Meetings

Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion.

Green Sanctuary Orientation & Office Hours

Interested in transforming your congregation through climate justice? Join this orientation to get a better understanding of the Green Sanctuary program and learn how your congregation can engage. Office hours are held on the first Wednesday of the month from 7-8PM Eastern Time.

All Climate Events can be found at sidewithlove.org/climatejustice



Actions and Events from Create Climate Justice

Protect Juristac: No Quarry on Mutsun Sacred Grounds

24 August 2022 at 14:40

Mobilizing UUs in solidarity with Indigenous front-line communities is a critical part of our climate justice work. Communities where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color live are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change and the pollution that causes it. Our climate advocacy must center the lived experiences and knowledge of these frontline communities.

UUs Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church and Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose reached out to Side With Love to share an important call to action from the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition. Please read their update, take the actions they share, and consider what climate justice looks like in your community? Who is most impacted, how, and where? How can you work in solidarity with the people most impacted?  

With deep appreciation for UUs doing the good work,

Rachel Myslivy, UUA Climate Justice Organizer


The climate crisis is caused by taking – from the earth and from other beings, human and otherwise – exploiting, extracting, consuming, destroying – without regard to the consequences. Those who have more power take from those who have less, and the taking continues unabated. This system is built on injustice and cannot function without it.

Image: Photo of the sacred hills of the Juristac Tribal Cultural Landscape during the day, with overcast skies and a shadow falling across the foreground. Text: PROTECT JURISTAC. NO QUARRY ON MUTSUN SACRED GROUNDS.

An example of this injustice is unfolding in a place called Juristac, the most sacred grounds of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. A development company wants to construct a massive open pit gravel mine that would destroy this sacred ground for all time, and with it the spiritual and cultural heart of Mutsun life. It would also block a vital wildlife corridor connecting 3 mountain ranges. Wildlife cannot speak for themselves at Planning Commission hearings, or submit comments on the Environmental Impact Report, but the tribe can, and is, and we are supporting them. Please join us in helping prevent this irreversible injustice, this human rights tragedy. There are other sources of sand and gravel. There is only one Juristac. This 4-minute video tells the story.

What you can do:    

  • Sign the petition to protect Juristac. 

  • Submit a comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) by Sept 26. The DEIR states that the mine will have “significant impact on the Juristac Tribal Cultural Landscape.” No kidding! Tell the Planning Commission why this is morally unacceptable and the permit must be denied. 

  • If you’re in Northern California, attend the rally in San Jose Sept 10. Details will be on ProtectJuristac.org/deir.

  • Follow the tribe on Instagram and Facebook.

As members of the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition, both our churches have passed resolutions supporting the tribe and opposing the mine. We have been taking the Juristac story to churches and other faith communities to raise awareness and enlist support.

We are doing this work as UUs committed to justice and healing, which includes:

  • Raising awareness of the true history of colonization and conquest and genocide, of extraction and exploitation, and how these patterns continue to this day.

  • Marshaling support among UUs and other faith communities to support the Amah Mutsun in protecting their most sacred grounds from permanent desecration, and in regaining access so they can restore their culture and their spiritual practices.

  • Promoting the understanding that Indigenous spirituality is equal to other religions and has a lot to teach about stewardship and reciprocity. 

Thank you for your commitment to climate justice through Indigenous solidarity,

Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church

Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose

Protect Juristac: No Quarry on Mutsun Sacred Grounds

Holding complexity on the Inflation Reduction Act

16 August 2022 at 15:57

Climate change is a complex problem. There are no easy answers and often more questions. Holding complexity is part of the work we must do to realize a healthy and resilient future where all can thrive.

The Inflation Reduction Act puts forth the most ambitious climate action to ever pass US Congress. With significant investments in clean energy, transportation, and environmental justice, the IRA is projected to reduce emissions 40% by 2030. It’s historic. It’s exciting. It’s getting us closer to our climate goals. YES!

This legislation will have wide scale and lasting impacts for generations to come. Sadly, those impacts are not all positive or just. The Inflation Reduction Act is an example of the ways advocates and legislators neglect and exploit communities in the search for a win, instead of in search of justice. The IRA sacrifices communities already bearing the burden of climate change. NO!

The People Vs. Fossil Fuels Coalition calls out the IRA’s “poison pills” that will disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, family farming, people of the global majority and working-class communities, including major handouts to Big Oil, like requiring new oil & gas leasing on 620 million acres of public lands and waters, and permitting for new oil & gas pipelines while supporting false solutions like carbon capture, nuclear, hydrogen, biofuels and carbon trading. NO!

So, while many are celebrating wholeheartedly, I’m conflicted. I’m melancholy. I’m torn. I wonder: is it really a win, if it’s not a win for all of us? NO!

Still, it also has historic investments in clean energy, transportation, environmental justice, and more that we desperately need. Plus, there are lots of other benefits like lowering Medicare prescription drug costs, extending the Affordable Care Act coverage for 13 million Americans, and instituting a 15% minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations. YES!

Like our friends at UUSJ say, the Inflation Reduction Act is a Mixed Bag.

Although the Inflation Reduction Act is the result of years of organizing from environmental justice organizations, climate organizations, and frontline communities, it muffles the concerns of people fighting on the front lines. Those in power continue to ignore, neglect, and actively harm those most impacted by climate change and the pollution that causes it. The IRA sacrifices frontline communities already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. This is not climate justice.

No, the Inflation Reduction Act is not enough. Yes, we still need it. Hold this complexity, then let’s get to work.

In solidarity,

Rachel Myslivy

Climate Organizer for Side with Love

Imagine description: Photo shows Rachel Myslivy, a white person, wearing hair in a braid and a yellow Side With Love shirt, standing in front of a wooded area.

Next Steps:

  • As part of the deal to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Senators Manchin and Schumer are introducing legislation to fast-track permit approvals for fossil fuel projects. Write your members of Congress to pledge right now to block fossil fuel handouts.

  • Tell Biden: Choose People over Fossil Fuels. This fact sheet outlines the importance of Biden declaring a national climate emergency.

  • Encourage your congregation to Tell Congress: Reject Manchin + Schumer’s dirty “side deal” with the fossil fuel industry

Frontline organizations’ responses to the IRA

Holding complexity on the Inflation Reduction Act

How can we center the inherent worth and dignity of every person in this extreme heat?

22 July 2022 at 15:24

When we think of climate disasters, we usually think about wildfires, floods, or hurricanes. Extreme heat may not be the first thing to come to mind, but it is one of the most dangerous of all climate impacts, especially with urban heat islands common in historically segregated communities. Extreme heat kills hundreds of Americans each year and causes many more to be seriously ill.

Image 1: Parent and child swimming in a public pool. Image 2: Two first responders loading a patient into an ambulance. Text: "What Media Shows. Reality."

Image 1: Parent and child swimming in a public pool. Image 2: Two first responders loading a patient into an ambulance. Text: "What Media Shows. Reality."

News of record-breaking heat is everywhere right now–you may be feeling the effects in your hometown. While some media outlets say, “everyone loves the summer heat!” with fun pictures of children playing in pools, the reality is that many of our friends and loved ones are profoundly suffering in this heat. This is not about discomfort. This about the safety, health, and sustaining quality of life that affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all. Our bodies and our infrastructure are not designed for these more frequent extreme heat events. This is why we fight for just policy and take action to care for and build resilient communities. 

RSVP for our Climate Disaster Response workshop. Make a plan. Protect your community. 

Sunday, July 31, 2022 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM ET (Note the Time Zone!)

Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? Join this hands-on workshop with activities to help you identify the climate risks, understand who is most at risk, and how your community will be impacted. From there, make a plan to prepare for and respond to climate disasters in your neighborhood. This workshop is a follow up to "Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care'. Attendees are encouraged to watch the video of that training in advance of this workshop. Invite your congregation to watch with you!

How can we center the inherent worth and dignity of every person in this extreme heat? 

We can use our gifts to offer love, to work for justice, to heal injury, to create pleasure for ourselves and others. We can recognize our mutual independence with all life. We can take actions that are grounded in justice, guided by wisdom, and sustained with hope. We can learn, act, and reflect to cultivate the beloved community.

LEARN who is at risk and how.

  • The EPA outlines key factors that put some at higher risk than others:

  • Exposure affects people who work outdoors, in buildings with no air conditioning, the unhoused members of our communities, and people who live in inefficient housing or without air conditioning.

  • Sensitivity to heat makes the very young, elderly, pregnant people, and folks with some health conditions more at risk. 

  • The Ability to Respond makes it difficult for some to respond and prepare to avoid the heat. This includes our neighbors who cannot afford air conditioning or the electricity to use it because of high electricity burdens; people whose mobility issues make it difficult to access health care or get to a cooling center; and those who are exposed to extreme heat through work or lack of housing. 

Extreme heat can cause heat-related illness and death, including heat exhaustion and heat stroke, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disorders, kidney disorders, and cerebrovascular disease. Increased ground level ozone can cause asthma attacks and other respiratory problems. In extreme heat, we see increased numbers of workplace injuries, increased violence, and mental health problems. It’s hard on all of us, but some are more impacted than others.

ACT NOW and plan for the long-haul.

Things you can do today:

  • Offer your building as a cooling center to provide sanctuary from the extreme heat.

  • If your congregation is in an area with heavy foot traffic, set out bottles of sunscreen and a cooler with paper cups for passersby to hydrate.

  • Set up calling trees to check on elderly or sick members of your congregation every day until the heat subsides. Ask each person you call if they’re concerned about anyone else; add those people to your calling tree. 

  • Know the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Share this information with your community. (CDC or Weather.gov)

  • RSVP for our Climate Disaster Response workshop. Make a plan; protect your community. 

Community actions to consider:

  • Work with a neighborhood association or other local organization to weatherize low-income homes in your community. Weatherization can reduce energy burdens by 25%.

  • Partner with frontline leadership to reduce the impacts of heat islands by planting locally-appropriate trees, community gardens, or other green spaces. 

  • Encourage your local government to install public drinking fountains or splash pads in areas with urban heat islands.

  • Commit to cultivating relationships with frontline communities in your area. Ask how you can help; don’t tell your neighbors what to do.

Congregational opportunities for solidarity:

  • Make the changes necessary to offer your buildings as cooling or warming stations in extreme weather.

  • Determine ways to reorganize your facilities to be able to provide emergency shelter after climate disasters, then make the changes. 

  • Install a back-up generator so your building can provide sanctuary to your neighbors during blackouts or power outages. 

  • Provide solar-powered charging stations to serve your community when the power goes out. 

Build power for the long haul:

  • Advocate for local climate action. 

  • Ask every elected official or candidate what they will do about climate change and extreme heat in your community. Make it local. Make it relevant. Make it urgent. . 

  • Organize a campaign to press your local utility to adopt a hot-weather rule to ensure that no one has their power turned off for failure to pay during extreme heat. 

  • Call on local officials and businesses to adopt standards to protect workers. Follow progress on the Biden Administration’s efforts to protect workers and communities from extreme heat. 

  • Advocate for effective energy efficiency programs that prioritize lower- and middle-income residents. 

  • Work for the equitable transition to a clean energy future through energy democracy and energy justice. The people most impacted by energy decisions should have the greatest say in shaping them. 

  • Make sure that justice is at the core of your climate action. Update your understanding of climate action to center the experience of those most impacted by climate change. We must work together for the liberation of all. No excuses. 

REFLECT.

  • Meditate on the ways love in action can transform our world. Breathe in love, breathe out justice. 

  • Come together in community to create compassionate spaces for collective grief and community healing to ground and sustain our work. 

  • Practice grace and compassion in your every interaction; consider the burdens we all carry, and be kind. 

  • Celebrate the beauty and wonder of all creation. Seek restoration and healing in nature and in community with others. 

  • Cultivate balance. 

  • Prayerfully consider what radical acts of faith you can commit to personally, and how you will help lead in your congregation.

This work is hard, but we can do all of these things and more if we work together. As always, please reach out if you have ideas, need help, or want to talk through your plans. When you take action, tell us all about it. Every action counts. Thank you for your work.

In solidarity,

Rachel Myslivy

Climate Organizer for Side with Love

How can we center the inherent worth and dignity of every person in this extreme heat?

Response to Supreme Court Ruling on West Virginia v. EPA

5 July 2022 at 15:32

Last week the Supreme Court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to address emissions that cause climate change, compromising half a century of health, environmental, and climate justice advocacy. The decision in West Virginia v. EPA significantly limits the EPA’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants using the Clean Air Act. The Court’s ruling will disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income communities. These populations are more likely to live near power plants, experience higher rates of pollution, are most affected by the public health impacts of climate and are more likely to experience climate-forced displacement.

  • Tell Biden: Choose People over Fossil Fuels. Sign on to a list of executive actions that Biden must take right away to protect and invest in BIPOC and working-class communities impacted first and worst by pollution and climate disaster, stop all new fossil fuel infrastructure and declare climate change a national emergency

  • Join with UUs demanding climate action. Tell your Senators and Representative that the Supreme Court’s recent climate decision requires urgent legislative action to invest in climate action.

  • Call Your Senators NOW to express outrage at this decision and demand they do everything they can to stop climate change and protect our communities from air pollution and climate disasters.

  • Take distributed action! Commit to getting 75% of your congregation to take one or all of these actions! Please fill out the Action Center Story & Report form to share your work with us.

This ruling adds to the pain and anger for those of us already mourning the devastating reversal of Roe v. Wade, the elimination of local gun controls, and the undermining of indigenous sovereignty – all while we face another summer of extreme heat with rising energy costs; and climate disasters like wildfires and floods displacing thousands of people. We must acknowledge our friends and neighbors who will now be denied bodily autonomy and be burdened by the financial cost and danger of trying to access care are the same people who continue to face the worst of the climate crisis.

As we wrote in May, “Our Unitarian Universalist faith affirms that all of our bodies are sacred, and that we are each endowed with the twin gifts of agency and conscience. . . . When disparities in resources or freedoms make it more difficult for certain groups of people to exercise autonomy over their own bodies, our faith compels us to take liberatory action.” This bodily autonomy applies as much to our right to choose as it does our right to clean air and clean water. We encourage you to discern where you feel called to be, and we send you our gratitude and blessings for showing up for justice.

How can we respond with love and justice at the core of our intentions and actions? What liberatory action can we take now?

Organize. Your. Congregation.

  • Make a plan to prepare for and respond to climate disasters in your neighborhood. Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? Join this hands-on workshop with activities to help you identify the climate risks, understand who is most at risk, and how your community will be impacted. Register for the Climate Disaster Response Workshop - July 31, 2022 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM ET.

  • Advance Energy Justice through weatherization. Weatherization can reduce energy bills by up to 25% while improving community health, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving air quality, but utility programs are often inaccessible to our lower-income neighbors. Join the next Green Sanctuary Team Meeting to learn how your congregation can engage in community weatherization efforts.

  • Commit to action on climate forced displacement. Join the UU Ministry for Earth, UUs for a Just Economic Community, UUA, UUA Office at the United Nations, UUs for Social Justice, and the UU Service Committee in a joint UU Statement of Commitment in Response to Climate-Forced Displacement. It’s an historic moment of UU collaboration at a time when we’re seeing unprecedented climate-forced migration all over the globe - even right here in our communities. Sign on to respond to Climate-Forced Displacement.

  • Get ready to vote on climate. UU the Vote is partnering with the Environmental Voter Project to turn out millions of non-voting environmentalists this November. Stay tuned.

  • Connect with people organizing for Environmental and Climate Justice in your community, state, or region. Ask them how you and your congregation can help (don’t tell them what to do!). Centering values and lived experience is critical to achieving energy and climate justice. The 4th Arm - Partnership for Southern Equity demonstrates that when BIPOC communities are authentically and thoughtfully engaged in organizing, we can win on climate and create systemic change.

  • Prepare yourself for the long haul journey to climate justice. Take a deep breath. Connect with your friends. Hydrate. Smile at a child. Sing a song. Center love.

We can do this.

image shows a white person with a braid of hair over the shoulder wearing a yellow Side With Love shirt, standing in front of trees

Rachel Myslivy

Climate Justice Organizer

Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team

Response to Supreme Court Ruling on West Virginia v. EPA

Create Climate Justice, June 2022: Climate Resilience, Disaster Response, and Community Care

15 June 2022 at 13:26
header for create climate justice w image of people standing in the shape of an orca.

Climate forced displacement is on the news every day.  Most recently, the fires in New Mexico have displaced up to 18,000 people in the largest wildfire in the state’s history.  The Hermit’s Peak and Canyon Calf fires are only about 65% contained; the true impacts are hard to gauge, and it will take years to recover.   

Climate disasters will challenge every community.  How can UUs prepare?  How can we center justice in our response?  How can our congregations be beacons of hope in these trying times?  

Here are two things you can do right now:  

  1. Check out the recording of Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care, featuring Rev. Karen Hutt from the UU Trauma Response Ministry; Halcyon Westall with the UUA Disaster Relief Fund and Faithify; Rachel Myslivy, Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer; and Rev. Cynthia Cain, retired UU minister.  

  2. RSVP for the follow up Climate Disaster Response Workshop - July 31, 2022 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM ET.  Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? Join this hands-on workshop with activities to help you identify the climate risks, understand who is most at risk, and how your community will be impacted. From there, make a plan to prepare for and respond to climate disasters in your neighborhood. This workshop is a follow up to "Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care'. Attendees are encouraged to watch the video of that training in advance of this workshop. Invite your congregation to watch with you!


Aly Tharp- Farewell and Forward Together!

Aly Tharp has served as a leader in the Unitarian Universalist Climate Justice movement since 2014 will be transitioning from Co-Director of UU Ministry for Earth to a new organizing role at Green Faith, a multi-faith climate organization. Aly writes: 

“It has been a great honor and privilege to serve UU Young Adults for Climate Justice, UU Ministry for Earth and the entire UU faith community over the last eight years.

I am so proud of the work we’ve done together — the many national and global mobilizations; being an executive producer and screening partner of The Condor & The Eagle documentary; organizing congregations to create eco-artwork for the 2017, 2019 and 2022 General Assemblies; the hundreds of webinars and networking calls to strengthen the UU climate and environmental justice movement… It has been hard, beautiful, meaningful work. Thank you for your faith, support, and collaboration over the years…

Given that the UU Ministry for Earth, Side With Love, and hundreds of UU congregations are active in the People vs Fossil Fuels coalition — and given how many UUs are engaged in grassroots multi-faith action for climate justice generally — I have no doubt that this transition is not truly a goodbye! Our paths will continue to intersect and unite often, as we do the sacred and important work of showing up for Life, Love and Justice.”

Read Aly’s complete letter of hopes and well wishes here. 


Climate Justice at General Assembly

UUA GA logo of people holding hands. Text reads Meet the Moment: Reimagining Radical Faith Community

The Unitarian Universalist General Assembly will be in Portland, OR, June 21st – 26th, and we hope to connect with you there in person or virtually. There are several excellent presentations on climate justice at this year’s General Assembly.  

Public Witness: “Fund Futures, not Freeways!”,  Friday, June 24 at 5:30 pm PT - 6:15pm PT

When we gather in-person at #UUAGA, we make a commitment to leveraging our UU power in support of locally-led movements for justice through a Public Witness in whatever city we are in. This year, local UU climate justice activists have asked us to join them in their support of youth-led climate justice work in partnership with Sunrise PDX, a chapter of the national Sunrise Movement.

Join Side With Love, UU Ministry for Earth, and our UU youth and young adults for this short action to support Sunrise PDX's Youth vs. ODOT campaign in demanding that the Oregon Department of Transportation "Fund Futures, not Freeways!" We will process from the Synergy worship to right outside the convention center, where we will hear from youth leaders and local activists about the need to imagine a decarbonized transportation infrastructure for the future of the planet and all species. People of all ages and abilities are invited to join the Procession of Species, and lift our voices together in song and chant at this brief, uplifting youth-led rally.

Below are a few highlights:

On Demand programming: 

Check out UU Ministry for Earth’s guide to workshops and activities at General Assembly 2022!  


Green Climate Fund Advocacy Needed

Do you agree the U.S. is responsible for a huge share of emissions causing the climate crisis and should do its fair share to support mitigation and resilience development? Will you support UU advocacy for the Green Climate Fund (GCF)? 

Are you a constituent in AR, CT, KS, KY, MD, MO, NH, TN, and VT? Your Senators are on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. If so, fill out this form so that UUSJ can pursue meetings with your Senators on the GCF.

In May 2022, the UUs for Social Justice (UUSJ) Environmental Action Team (EAT) did structured meetings with select targets on funding the GFC, a vital international effort to assist poorer countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help their people adapt to the worst effects of climate change. This effort was endorsed by UUMFE and UUJEC. We sought to learn why the GCF fell out of the FY-2022 budget and what can be done for the FY-2023 cycle. We heard about a political circumstance where faith voices are needed to press the Subcommittee to fund the GCF for both moral and policy reasons. Will you support this work?

Learn and act:


image of aly tharp

Create Climate Justice, June 2022: Climate Resilience, Disaster Response, and Community Care

Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care Webinar Materials

26 May 2022 at 17:08

In May 2022, we hosted the webinar Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care. 

Special thanks to Rev. Karen Hutt, Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry; Halcyon Westall with the UUA Disaster Relief Fund and Faithify; and Rev. Cynthia Cain for helping us all reflect on how to cultivate community care in response to climate disasters.

What now?

Climate Disaster Response Workshop

July 10, 2022 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM ET


Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? Join this hands-on workshop with activities to help you identify the climate risks, understand who is most at risk, and how your community will be impacted. From there, make a plan to prepare for and respond to climate disasters in your neighborhood. This workshop is a follow up to "Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care'. Attendees are encouraged to watch the video of that training in advance of this workshop. Invite your congregation to watch with you! Sunday, July 10 - 4ET - 3CT - 2MT - 1PT

Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care Webinar Materials

Resources & Recordings from the 2022 Congregational Climate Convergence

29 March 2022 at 14:21

Over 300 people signed up for community nourishment, inspiration, and skillbuilding around climate justice on 3/22 as part of Spring for Change: A Season of Sacred Activism.

Quick links from the event:  

Summary of the Congregational Climate Convergence

 

After a warm and grounding welcome from Rev. Ashley Horan, the event started with a quick introduction to systems thinking and making connections on climate justice.  Climate Justice Organizer, Rachel Myslivy, shared two frameworks to shape the event, including the What? So what? Now what? framework from the Human Systems Dynamics Institute and a framework for cultivating meaningful dialogs through deep listening, direct speech, appreciative inquiry, and genuine appreciation.  

 

Case Studies.  Two congregations shared case studies to seed conversations among small groups.  Eva Berringer from First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa and frontline partner, Kayoki Whiteduck, discussed ways to cultivate relationships with frontline communities focusing on the emerging partnership with First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa and the youth Future Food Warriors at the Ajashki Food Security Initiative.  Ian Goddard from Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church (NSUU), located in Danvers, MA discussed the ways their Green Sanctuary Team reached out to front line organizers and by so doing also increased the percentage of congregation members and friends engaging the work with a particular focus on creative ways to increase engagement throughout the pandemic.   Ideas generated from the small groups were collected through Mentimeter and are available for viewing here and here.

Deepening Engagement.  After each case study, small groups came together to process the information, consider the implications, and frame next steps.  Using the What? So what? Now what? framework, Congregational Justice Organizer, Rev. Ranwa Hammamy posed questions for each group to consider.  Ideas generated from the small groups were collected through Mentimeter and are available for viewing here and here.

Action Center Spotlight.  The final portion of the convergence focused on the Now what? portion of the framework featuring a deep dive into the Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team’s Action Center.  Rev. Cathy Rion Starr provided participants with several actions to take, including joining Skill ups and Community of Praxis events.  Participants shifted from learning to action on the UUSJ Water Resources Defense Act (WRDA) action alert.  Hundreds of UUs learned about WRDA and took action!  Share the WRDA Action with your friends, family, and congregations!  Watch for a follow up click-to-call to contact your congressional representatives on WRDA.  

Throughout the event, Canedy Knowles of the Side With Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Volunteer Squad helped integrate mind and body and spirit with engaging activities that reinvigorated the group and helped us refocus for each section of the event. 

Side With Love would like to thank everyone who helped bring this Convergence together including

  • Rachel Myslivy, Climate Justice Organizer

  • Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, the Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer

  • Rev Cathy Rion Starr, the Side With Love Action Center Squads Coordinator

  • Karen Brammer, Green Sanctuary Program Manager

  • Aly Tharp, Co-Director of UU Ministry for Earth,

  • Rev. Ashley Horan, Side With Love Organizing Strategy Director

  • Audra Friend, Digital Communications, Technology, and Data Specialist

  • Squad members Beth Posner-Waldron and Canedy Knowles


See upcoming programming for Spring for Change 2022, March 20 - May 22!

Resources & Recordings from the 2022 Congregational Climate Convergence

UU Climate Strike Media Tips and Shot List

19 September 2019 at 22:04

UPDATESee event coverage from the UU World and my related live tweeting.

#CLIMATESTRIKE

Friday, September 20th I’ll be helping to document and amplify the Boston climate strike, live tweeting photos and video interviews, especially of our Boston Unitarian Universalist Contingent.

 

 

On Sept 20th I’m going to be striking with what I hope🤞 is a huge Unitarian Universalist contingent w/ @UUA @UUMassAction @UUMFE @UUSC. If you’re interested in that #ClimateStrike coverage follow my @uuplanet account. For my Boston climate action tweets follow @ClimateSocial. pic.twitter.com/NWmi4dOU0B

— Peter Bowden (@PeterBowdenLive) September 12, 2019

Below are some media tips for you wherever you are striking!

Whether you are sharing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or taking pix for other use, consider the following “shot list” of photos and videos to take to guide your efforts.

1. CLOSE-UPS WITH SIGNS

Photos of people holding signs fairly close up, say two people together with their signs. The media loves these! Show the people and their signs.  Make sure you share your sign photos including the hashtag #ClimateStrike and sign.  People search for those words together to find the signs, including for articles sharing the “top signs” from the protest.

Example: Tweet your sign photo with the TEXT OF YOUR SIGN written out followed by #ClimateStrike sign

“I WILL VOTE” — Signs at Boston #ClimateStrike @climatestrikeUS @ClimateStrikeMA pic.twitter.com/B1i74bFwcQ

— Peter Bowden (@PeterBowdenLive) March 15, 2019

2. GROUP SHOTS

Organize your group so you are all together with your signs and banners and take a group shot. Do this before things get started. Every march or protest I attend I organize people into group shots. This is often overlooked and a missed opportunity.  Sharing your group photo publicly AS SOON AS YOU GATHER will help build energy and interest in the event.  These photos are helpful on websites and PR for climate justice events.

 

Medford High striking for climate justice! At #Boston #ClimateStrike @climatestrikeUS @ClimateStrikeMA pic.twitter.com/lr7FVosPUE

— Peter Bowden (@PeterBowdenLive) March 15, 2019

Example: Group photos I’ve taken have been used in PR for nonprofits for YEARS following the action. They’ve been published in magazine articles, blog posts, coffee table books, and used in scholarly presentations on the climate movement.

3. ACTION SHOTS

Once you are marching, especially in a group with a banner, have someone from you group run ahead and take a good action shot of you marching. You can take turns doing this.  Just run ahead, move to the side, and take photos or short videos of your group marching.

4. CROWD SHOTS

When you hear yourself thinking, “Wow, there are so many people here” take a crowd shot. People love seeing the size ofcrowds. Take a crowd shot.  But also consider taking a short video of yourself explaining where you are, how many people there are,  how exciting it is, and how happy you are so many people turned out.  Show the crowd, Trump and the fossil fuel industry are watching…

Beacon street filled with striking students and allies! #Boston #ClimateStrike @climatestrikeUS @ClimateStrikeMA pic.twitter.com/UOzNFPqwtJ

— Peter Bowden (@PeterBowdenLive) March 15, 2019

5. SHARE YOUR STORY

Try and tell the story of your experience as it unfolds. Take photos as you are first gathering before the action. Take a photo as the crowds build. Don’t wait until everything is in full swing to take photos and share them. Help others experience marches through your eyes.  I have found that sharing the story in this way helps engage people tuning in, including journalists considering reporting on the event.

6. SHARE A VIDEO MESSAGE

This takes a bit more intention, but it is powerful.  If you have something to say about CLIMATE CHANGE and our need to act, share it in a video message.  Take a short video — 30 seconds is fine — to share why you’re striking, your thoughts and feelings about climate, and a message for the people viewing your video.  If you had 30 seconds to share a message on national TV, what would you say?  Say it, tweet it, and tag it with the #climatestrike hashtag.

We’re in #Boston saying no to the Back Bay Boston’s Billionaires’ Fracked Gas Pipeline — @nathanpboston explains. #RallyToResist pic.twitter.com/95pYYwuSMT

— Peter Bowden (@PeterBowdenLive) April 21, 2018

Example: You never know when a video will get picked up.  I tweeted a short video at the start of a recent youth climate strike, tagged it #ClimateStrike and it was picked up by Twitter in the national coverage and was viewed 26,000 times within 48 hours.

From start of Boston #ClimateStrike @climatestrikeUS @ClimateStrikeMA before crowd took over Beacon Street in front of MA state house. pic.twitter.com/L0otBJaImx

— Peter Bowden (@PeterBowdenLive) March 15, 2019

TWEETING? TAG ME IN PHOTOS FOR RETWEETS

If you do any of the above, I’d love to see your photos and videos and share them.  Tag your tweets with @UUPLANET and I’ll get notified.  That simply means including the text username @uuplanet in your tweet.  Easy!

Thank you for striking tomorrow or participating in actions over the coming week!  I look forward to seeing your photos and videos.

If you’re joining our Unitarian Universalist gatherings in Boston, you can read more about our plans and schedule here.

 

uus-boston-climate-2019-by-peterbowden

peterfbowden

#CLIMATESTRIKE

❌